Jumping the Void
by Jan of Arc
Summary: ON HIATUS INDEFINITELY. Set after DITF. Claude, desperate to stay connected to the Fae Realm, messes with the portal in Sookie's back yard – with catastrophic effects on himself and Sookie. AU, rated M just in case things get sweary, violent or sexy.
1. Discontent leads to danger

Jumping the Void

_Set after DITF. Claude, desperate to stay connected to the Fae Realm, messes with the portal in Sookie's back yard – with catastrophic effects on himself and Sookie. AU, rated M just in case things get sweary, violent or sexy._

_A/N: __**I'd like to thank fffbone for her input when I was brainstorming this fic and thank you to Jaxg for pre-reading**__.** Even more thanks to murgatroid for pointing out an error with this chapter :o)** This story incorporates ideas you may have seen in Quantum Leap, Sliders, the Vampire World novels (by Brian Lumley) and any other 'Parallel Universe' show or book you may have read. The title tosses a reference to Doctor Who, where the space between universes is called 'The Void'. Eric will appear later in this fic but it's more of an adventure story than a romance. Sookie and Claude will not be doing the horizontal tango._

**Chapter One – Discontent leads to Danger**

It had been several days since I'd killed my boyfriend's maker. I didn't really kill him - but a blow meant to kill me took him out instead. I might as well have killed him with my own hands. Life went on. I worked, I kept house, I nagged my houseguests, Claude and Dermot, to try and keep to some of my more human ideals under my roof. But all of those day to day tasks were followed by the setting of the sun. In the dark of night, I was privy to feelings that weren't mine. They belonged to Eric. And he wasn't happy.

Join the club, buddy.

My uncertainty as to how our relationship would continue after I sent Appius Livius Ocella to his final death was playing on my mind. And that was the tip of the iceberg. Claude was becoming increasingly annoyed with being locked out of a realm he never wanted to be in when the portals were open. I had to listen to him whine about never having the chance to be with his kin again and how sharing a home with me and Dermot wouldn't do for a prolonged period of time.

And that was why I came home from work that night to see strange lights in the woods behind my house.

I pulled up and jumped from my car. Somehow, I just knew he was doing something dangerous he should be talked out of ... immediately. The lights weren't deep in the woods, but I had to climb over a few roots and duck under a few branches to get to where Claude was standing. His hands were out in front of him, a strange glow emanating from the palms.

"Whatcha doin' there, Claude?"

His head spun round and the look on his face terrified me. The rage, the determination ... I instinctively took a few steps back.

"He asked if I wanted to remain here, as I always have, but having the _choice_ taken away ... I didn't think it would anger me the way it does."

"Can't you just get in touch with him somehow? Tell him you want to go to the Fae Realm?"

"That's the problem." He growled and the light pulsated. "It's one or the other – don't you see? If I go there, I stay there. I wouldn't be able to come back. He took away our _choices, _our _freedom_!"

"Okay." I scratched at the recesses of my brain trying to come up with something that might calm him down. "So, what are you trying to achieve here, Claude?"

"Well, what does it look like? I'm opening the damn portal!"

It wasn't until that point I noticed a green light in the air in front of him, like there was a canvas there with a big tear in it. The light from his hands pulsed once again, Claude's face screwed up in concentration, the tear got bigger with a wet, ripping noise. My fear spiked, followed by a surge of anger that wasn't mine.

The last thing I wanted was for Eric to come here and think my tasty (in a Vampire's eyes – literally. Fairies were to Vampires what Hersheys was to Chocoholics) cousin was trying to kill me. As much as Claude was self-absorbed and arrogant, I still didn't want my boyfriend draining every last drop of blood from his well-toned stripper body.

"Claude, you need to stop that. It ... it doesn't sound right." Just then the green light flickered to yellow, to orange then to red and the ripping noise got louder. "That _really_ doesn't sound good Claude!"

"Cousin, I know for a fact you have no idea what tearing the space-time continuum sounds like. So if you'd just shut up and let me get on with this!"

"Are you even listening to yourself? 'Tearing the space-time continuum' does that _sound_ like a good idea to you?"

The red light from the tear started to swirl and the wind around us seemed to pick up and start blowing us toward the big, red swirly light that I really didn't really want to be going toward. I could barely hear a thing, the sounds of the trees bending and snapping and the hum from the portal was almost deafening. That's when I realised I wasn't being blown toward the portal – I was being sucked into it. But I felt when Eric landed behind us.

I turned to try and calm him down, try to buy Claude some time before Eric attacked, but before I could even make a gesture there was a loud popping and I was lifted from the ground. I clawed at empty air and watched Eric try to grab me with one hand while he held on to a tree with the other. I looked to see where Claude was but he wasn't around. I wondered if he'd managed to get away from the portal before it sucked him inside like it was doing to me.

One last look at Eric's face was all I got before I started spinning. He looked terrified. It was at that point I screamed and cried. I clawed, trying to find something, anything that I could use as an anchor but my nails scrabbled against loose dirt and branches when they managed to get close to the ground. Visually, being pulled into a swirling red vortex of doom is actually quite stunning. Physically, it's like being between the brushes in a carwash. It stings and it makes you real dizzy; so dizzy that I may have thrown up.

But I waited until I was spat out of the vortex before emptying the contents of my stomach. That was probably a good thing, with hindsight, being sick while spinning around like that wouldn't have been pretty.

As I retched into the dry grass I had landed on, I felt a hand on my back. It was a soothing touch, so I guessed that Claude had come through before me. When I was done, I wiped my mouth and turned to the person who was trying to comfort me. Sure enough, it was my cousin. Unfortunately, he looked very worried. I turned to where the portal should have been but there was nothing there.

"What's wrong?"

"This isn't the Fae Realm, Sookie."

"Well, which realm is it?" The look he gave me told me all the answers. Claude didn't have a clue where we were. "Did something go wrong with opening the portal?"

He looked guilty. I didn't like that one little bit.

"What did you do, Claude?"

"I used my Fae Magic to try and open the portal. There's supposed to be a key. I didn't have the key but I thought, maybe, I would be able to do it because I'm kin to Niall."

"So, let me get this straight. You didn't have a key but you thought it would be a swell idea to kick down the door of the space-time continuum and everything would be hunky-dory?"

Claude at least had the decency to look ashamed of himself. "I knew there was a chance something could go wrong, that's why I was trying to open it alone. I didn't count on your interference."

I closed my eyes in annoyance and took a deep breath. Once I'd calmed myself, I stood up and tried to take in my surroundings. It was night and the only light was from the moon and the stars but the landscape was familiar.

"This is the Stackhouse land." I pointed out where the land sloped and the big oak tree that had been half-way between the drive and the cemetery for centuries.

But there was no house. No drive. And, from what I could see in the darkness, no cemetery.

It was just a field.

"Jesus Christ, Shepherd of Judea!"


	2. Same time, same place

Jumping the Void

**Chapter 2 – Same time, same place**

I squinted in the dull light, looking back at the empty air we had been expelled from, wondering if we had been sent back in time, back before there were any Stackhouses. I thought Claude seemed intent on sitting on the grass and moping about his plan failing, but on closer inspection (as much as I could without a lot of light) he just looked plain exhausted.

"Have you sent us back, or forward, in time?"

"I have no idea. We could be anywhere, any time frame; I'm not sure about the mechanics of screwing around with gateways between realities." Claude practically sneered at me. That didn't help my mood one bit.

"Well, just turn your butt around and re-open whatever tear in the fabric of the universe you created and take me back home!"

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because the portal is gone. After you came out it crackled and folded in on itself. There's no thinning of the universal forces there anymore."

Well, that's just grand. I bit my lip to stop from saying anything out loud, Claude was still angry but now he had a generous side order of failure and an extra helping of being stuck in a strange place on his plate. I sort of knew how he felt.

"Even if it was there, I couldn't open it. Not like this, I'm tired. I need food, drink, rest ... and another portal if we're going to even attempt to get back to Bon Temps."

I nodded and put my hands on my hips. "So, I guess we should find somewhere for you to eat and sleep."

To be honest, I could do with some rest myself. I was wary of exploring in the dark, if Gran's house wasn't there then what was to say Bon Temps would be? For all we knew, we were thousands of years in the past, or thousands of years in the future. I extended my hand to help Claude up from the ground and used my knowledge of the woods to get us to the small creek.

We tripped several times in the woods as the canopy of leaves blocked out the meagre light. But we made it and knelt down to drink the cool water. Suddenly, nature was silenced. The babbling of the water was the only sound as the chirping of crickets and other night creatures stopped. Claude and I both looked at each other, because that was a sure sign that someone, or something, supernatural was close by.

I searched with my telepathy only to draw back and try to assemble a shield around my mind, as much as I could in my stressed and exhausted state. I gripped Claude's hand tightly as I whispered.

"We're surrounded. Weres, lots of 'em, hiding in the woods."

Crickets don't usually quieten down for Weres. That was my last thought before something large landed in the creek in front of us. Both me and Claude scrambled back from the water's edge and as I looked up I saw exactly why nature shut the hell up. It was Eric, and he looked more pissed off and feral than I'd ever seen him.

His fangs were long and the moonlight glistened against them, he was standing in a position that allowed him to spring forward and attack at a nanoseconds notice. The growl coming from him made my heart almost beat out of my chest. I saw his nose twitch before he reached for a sword at his hip and hissed out his version of a hello.

"Fae!" He licked his lips and sniffed at the air again before chuckling. "Terrified Fae, even better."

He was absolutely right, we were both terrified. We were trapped. Claude had no energy to pop out of there and save himself, let alone me.

"You are connected to me by blood." Eric brought out his sword and pressed the tip lightly against my chest. Well, it may have been light to Eric but it would damn sure leave a bruise on me. "Is this part of your magic, Fae?"

My mouth opened and nothing came out except air as I gasped for breath in my fear. Wherever we were, the blood bond was still in play – on my part at least. Eric could sense his blood in me, but had no idea how it got there. He snarled and pulled back the sword, I was grateful the pressure had been removed, but the way he licked one of his fangs and threw the sword to the side made me realise he had a more grisly plan in store for us.

His eyes flicked between me and Claude, as if deciding who to eat first, then his head snapped up and he growled even louder. I screamed as two wolves jumped on him, then another three. I lost count when he'd thrown off the tenth wolf but they just kept coming, leaping at him, biting, snapping and scratching at him with their claws. I had no idea if the wolves were protecting us or simply attacking an interloper to their territory, but right at that moment, I was glad they did.

After what seemed like hours of him fighting off the attacks (but was probably only a few minutes), Eric must have gotten sick of it and floated up in the air. He pointed at us menacingly.

"I'll find you again – my blood will tell me where you're hiding!"

And with that, he shot off into the sky.

I hadn't noticed that I was clinging to Claude the way a Koala clings to a tree until he was gone. But Eric being out of sight didn't mean we were out of danger. The wolves were circling, creating a rumbling furry barricade around us, one of them broke formation and shifted back into human form with that, now familiar, gloopy noise. I was shocked and ecstatic to find it was Alcide but held back from hugging him – if Eric didn't have a clue who I was, then I doubted Alcide would either.

"All the books say you guys are extinct." His accent was different, he sounded less American for some reason.

Claude frowned and looked at me with confused eyes.

"Who is extinct?" I tried to be as polite as possible.

"The Fae." Alcide looked at me like I was stupid. "Where did you come from?"

"A portal." Claude stood up and extended his hand to Alcide. "We mean you no harm and would be most grateful if you could give us any information possible about where we are."

Alcide eyed Claude warily but shook his hand and nodded before looking to me. I stood up, and held my own hand out to him. I tried to block out the fact he was naked as a jaybird and didn't seem to mind one jot. Supes never seemed to bother with things like modesty and respecting that other people might _not_ want to see their dangly parts.

"Hi, I'm Sookie Stackhouse."

"Alcide Herveaux." He smiled tightly in my direction and looked back at Claude. "And you are?"

"Claude Crane."

Alcide nodded again and told us to follow him. He pointed to his right and nodded to a wolf at his side, that wolf and several others broke away from the group to run off in the direction he'd gestured. Alcide looked at another wolf and it seemed to nod before running in the opposite direction with more of the pack, the rest that remained changed position so they were surrounding us.

"Eric was a long way from the citadel, we can't be sure his maker or other Vampires won't be around somewhere." Alcide stopped walking and turned around to face us. "We'll protect you, but not at cost to the pack. We can take minor injuries but not death. One of my wolves gets killed – you're on your own. If the Vamps want you that bad, they can have you."

I pinched Claude, just in case he was thinking about speaking. "And we're very grateful for that."

"You want to know where you are; I want to know where you're from. Your clothes, accents and the fact you're from a race that is supposed to have been wiped out over three hundred years ago has me curious."

"Before anything else happens, can you tell us what year this is?" I blurted it out; there was no telling if we'd get attacked again. Maybe Eric would come back with reinforcements, maybe Alcide and his pack would turn on us, despite his interest, or maybe we would fall into a ditch in the darkness and break all of our limbs.

Alcide snorted. "Well, that all depends on what calendar you use. We Weres have continued to use the Gregorian calendar, despite the Vampires using their own."

I was confused, why would Vampires be using a different calendar to the rest of the world?

"Ah ... Gregorian, please."

"2007. Are you time travellers or something?" He snorted again and shook his head before continuing forward.

"Apparently not." I muttered under my breath.

I felt Claude take my hand and squeeze it lightly. I squeezed back; I needed all the comfort I could get right at that moment.

~v~

We walked for hours, Claude and I staggering behind Alcide and his pack, barely awake and stomachs growling. I got a second wind as I saw lights flickering in the distance. I nudged Claude and pointed, but he simply nodded in answer. I was worried about him, he looked awful, I could feel him shiver next to me and his eyes had big dark circles around them.

It was a town, of sorts, large wooden cabins around a crossroads that was lit with lanterns. The design was very Wild West. We passed a paddock with horses and next to it was a row of carts and wagons. I had to wonder, if it was 2007 here – where was the electricity? Where were the cars? Someone threw Alcide a pair of pants and a shirt, it was Fall and in the light of the lanterns, I could see the gooseflesh on his arms and back. Even though Weres run hot, I guessed the weather was still a little cool to be running around naked.

He dressed as he walked, hopping to push his legs into the pants but never pausing. Alcide stopped at a cabin; it was the largest one in the town and obviously the centrepiece of the community. We could smell the food before the door even opened, and I heard Claude's stomach growl along with mine. Alcide must have heard it too; he turned to us and smiled.

"I won't ask if you're hungry. We can talk over some stew and brew."

Both of us nodded enthusiastically and followed him inside the cabin. There were two ranges against the far wall, with a big tub full of dirty dishes. The rest of the space was taken up by long tables with benches at each side and there was a staircase leading up to a second level a few yards in front of the door.

Everyone in the cabin stopped to stare at us as we entered, and Alcide did nothing to stop them. He led us to the cooking area and grabbed three bowls and three spoons from a stack on a table. Claude and I took the dishes gratefully and copied Alcide as he held his bowl out to a stocky woman for her to fill it with a deliciously scented stew. It was thick, with chunks of meat, carrots and potatoes. We put our bowls at the unpopulated end of one of the benches and, again, followed Alcide to a stack of glasses. He filled ours from a barrel with a tap and we all went back to sit down.

My butt was barely on the bench before I opened my mouth. "Where are we? I mean, what is this town called?"

"I'll ask the questions." Alcide grunted with a mouth full of stew.

I nodded and kept my mouth shut, with the exception of spooning in some much needed warmth and sustenance. Claude looked at me sideways and raised an eyebrow, silently mocking my impatience. He had barely said a whole sentence since we were rescued by the pack, part of me knew that it was the smart thing to do.

Alcide cleared one bowl while I was only halfway through and went up to get another one, coming back to the table with a chunk of bread. He offered it to us and both of us gladly tore chunks off to dip in our meal. Alcide ate more slowly this time, staring at us, assessing us ... maybe wondering how to kill us. All I could read from the snarly redness of his mind was curiosity and some lust, so perhaps my assumption that he was wondering how to kill us was wrong.

"You asked me, before, what year it was, what year is it where you're from?"

"It's also 2007." Claude replied calmly. "But ... things are very different."

"Through the portal, right?" Claude nodded. "The portals have been useless for centuries. So I'm wondering how in the hell you managed to come through one of them when there's nothing beyond them."

"Ah ... where we're from, the portals are active – that is, there's something on the other side of them – but they're sealed off by magic." Trying to explain how we managed to appear in this world was harder than I thought.

Alcide raised an eyebrow and beckoned to someone. A teenager came over and Alcide told him to bring him the first book, whatever that was.

"And Lord Appius' Lieutenant, Eric the Northman, was miles from the Citadel, and into Longtooth territory, just on the off-chance?" He looked at me coldly. "I heard him mention blood – and I want the truth, not some 'we came through a portal' nonsense. Are you an escaped Renfield?"

"What? No!" I could read from him that he thought I was lying. "In ... where we're from I'm connected to Eric. Through blood. But I'm not a Renfield. We really did come through a portal."

Alcide narrowed his eyes and looked from me to Claude and back again. "If you were just plain human I'd have you killed for lying and putting my pack in danger. But _you_ .." He pointed to Claude "Are Fae, I can smell that much. You're not all human either, are you?"

I shook my head, I had a tiny smidge of Fairy blood in my veins, and usually I was fairly happy to deny it was there and proclaim myself fully human. But this wasn't the time for denial.

"I'm part-Fae. Not much ... but enough."

The teenager came back with a large book. It wasn't a printed book you could buy in a store, it was a leather bound super-sized notebook. I could see that it was hand written as Alcide flicked through the pages. When he found what he was looking for he spun the book on the table and pointed to the part he wanted us to see.

"Here, read this."

_1674 AD (198 După dominaţia)_

_The last of the Fae have been hunted and exterminated. Unhappy that they could escape to their own realm, The Dark Lord Dracula employed witches to spell an army of over one thousand Vampires so they could enter the Fae Realm. The portals are useless, unsafe, except to those demons that may use them to travel from continent to continent. Our last true ally is gone; we must fall back and protect our numbers._

I blinked and looked away from the book to Claude. His head was bowed and he rubbed at his eyes, like he was tired or they were itchy, but I saw that his lashes were wet when he pulled his hands away. Alcide was decent enough to look sympathetic at Claude's discovery that his entire race had been hunted to extinction. Did Niall even exist in this world? If Vampires killed all the Fae back in the 1600s – did _I_ even exist?

"Something tells me that Dracula's great rebellion didn't happen where you're from. Are there still Elves, Brownies and Demons in your world too?"

Claude and I both nodded, not sure what to say. Had Vampires killed them all and what about the humans? I asked that question out loud and Alcide's eyes darkened.

"Humans are weak, easy to control. They pay the Vampires to continue to exist." He spat the last part out with distaste. "We gathered into cells, a resistance of sorts. This is the first time in centuries we've been able to settle and build some kind of community. An uneasy type of peace is there, we leave them alone and they leave us alone. There are very few demons; the only ones who survived are the ones who can serve the Vampires in some capacity."

"Do I want to know how the humans pay the Vampires?"

Alcide just looked at me. I knew. There was only one thing Vampires would want from humans and that's blood and sex. The humans continued to exist by being slaves.

"There are some humans who remain free but they're not really free. They steal from everyone else to survive ... and pay for their theft. A lot of them are runaways from the Vampire cities but they don't survive long." He paused for effect, as if he wanted us to think about the ramifications of running off on our own. "I only know one person who might be able to tell you about portals and how you managed to end up here. We'll leave first light and try to find him."

"Will he be able to tell us why our world is so different to yours?"

Alcide shrugged. "Dessie knows a lot about a lot of different things. It's possible. You guys just better pray he isn't in the Citadel – that's the last place you want to be caught."

~v~

True to his word, Claude and I were woken up just as the sun was peeking over the horizon. We were given clothes and pointed in the direction of another cabin. There was a small queue of people waiting to go inside, all of them holding a bundle of clean clothes the same as us. Alcide came out of the door, his hair wet and his chest bare. I heard giggling and turned to see a group of teenage girls waving shyly at him. He winked at them, then me and crossed the dirt track to the cabin where we'd gotten something to eat the night before.

When I got to the front of the line, I looked in the doorway to find that we were waiting to go into a bath-house of sorts. We'd slept, in the same bed, in another, different building. The floor was raised and around a dozen baths were sunk into the boards. I was nervous, because there were no individual cubicles or private areas. I felt Claude's hand on my shoulder; I knew he wouldn't have a problem with the situation. Not only was he a Supe who didn't mind who saw him naked – he was a stripper who got naked for money every night. I wasn't.

My eyes snapped to a young woman as she shouted for the next person. I walked toward her, watching as she checked the temperature of the water with her elbow before putting a fresh towel next to the tub. I must have been dragging my heels because she huffed, put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot.

"There's others ... oh! You're the woman they found last night!"

I nodded and gingerly put my pile of fresh clothes on a stool and toed off my Nikes. I could see her staring strangely at my 'My world' footwear and the Merlotte's uniform that I'd been wearing for almost 24 hours. I must have stunk something awful. I could see her craning her neck and smiling at Claude who was waiting for a free bath at the door. I smiled, glad that there was a distraction for some of the people in the bath house.

It was quite a feat, but I managed to undress without flashing the members of the community too much by keeping my back to the rest of the bathers and removing my clothes in stages. My dirty clothes went in a pile with everyone else's. While I was rubbing the large bar of soap over my skin, I could feel their eyes on me. I doubted they were looking at my nakedness as much as they were looking at the strange, scarred woman who had been found with a beautiful Fairy in the woods, a strange woman who had been brought home, like a stray dog, by their packmaster.

I ducked my head under the water and soaped up my hair. Usually, the shower or bath was my thinking place. I took stock as I washed away my stress. I couldn't do that here, and it irked me something terrible. I had a lot of stress and thinking to take stock of. But, like so many things in my life, it would need to wait until later. Until I'd found a way back home.

Back to Eric, the Eric who _didn't _want to drain me, the look on his face as I was sucked into the portal would haunt me until I got to see him again.

~v~

After breakfast, Alcide hooked up one of the carts to two horses and loaded the cart with bags of food, canteens of water, a canvas tent and blankets. I wondered how long we were going to be on the road for. He suggested that Claude and I rode in the back so we could hide under the blankets if anyone Alcide didn't trust happened upon us. We left what I now knew as Wolveswood behind and the cart rattled down the dirt tracks.

I had absolutely no idea where we were. Nothing was familiar, there were no landmarks. There wasn't even any concrete road to travel on, just dirt, trees, grass and fields. I quizzed Alcide as the clip-clop of the horses lulled Claude into sleepy state. We weren't in Louisiana, the area we were travelling through was simply known as Longtooth Country. Alcide had no knowledge of any of the towns, cities, states or countries I told him existed in my world. After we'd established some of the geographical differences, Alcide's questions became more personal.

"Your mate is very tired. Is he always like that?"

"No, he's usually very energetic but he used his magic to try and open the portal back home and ... it drained him I guess. But he's not my mate – Claude ... he prefers men."

Alcide curled his lip slightly at Claude's sleeping form. "Does he at least help with the breeding?"

"Ah ... I'm not sure. We're cousins but I don't know all that much about his side of the family."

"You said you had a connection to Eric the Northman, through his blood, in your world. Are you a pet or is it an expression of love where you're from?"

"Neither. I've worked for Eric and we became close." For lack of a better explanation. "I've saved him, he's saved me and along the way we've exchanged blood enough times to form a bond. It's used to control humans in my world but Eric doesn't use it for that."

Alcide turned to me and raised an eyebrow. "Sure."

I didn't react to his obvious goading; instead I turned to Claude, laid my head on his shoulder and pretended I was in need of a nap too. I cracked open one eye when I heard Alcide muttering for the horses to slow down. Peeking over the edge of the cart, I noticed him heading toward a man who was tilling a field with a plough strapped to a Clydesdale. I was once again struck by the primitive nature of technology here and mused about why that might be.

Eric had once said that he didn't feel comfortable with technology some of the time. It was entirely possible that the older Vampires who now ruled the world had the same ethos. Did they prevent advancement in technology because they weren't interested? Or did they eat all the humans who might have invented technological advancements? Maybe it was a little of both.

"Hey, Calvin, do you know where Dessie is?"

Claude snorted and sat bolt upright at the sound of Alcide's voice after such a long silence. I kicked him and pressed my finger to my lips but it was a day late and a dollar short.

"You got passengers hiding back there, Alcide?"

Alcide turned to us and nodded. "It's okay, I trust Calvin."

I smiled faintly, wanting to say that I trusted Calvin too. Claude and I both sat up and waved to the were-panther. He had scars on his face that weren't there in our world. I wondered what might have caused them.

"Dessie? Last I heard he was heading back to the library, had some contract to write for the big cheese down there."

Alcide sucked a breath in through his teeth. "That wasn't really what I wanted to hear but thanks, Calvin."

Calvin cocked his head to one side. "There a reason you want to avoid taking your ... guests to the citadel, apart from the fact that it's the Full moon tonight?"

"The less you know, the better my friend."

Alcide got the horses moving again and I gave Calvin a lacklustre wave as we passed. Once we were out of earshot I spoke up.

"What's so important about the full moon? I thought the citadel was where the Vampires were."

He stared straight ahead, the muscles in his jaw clenching as he ground his teeth. It seemed to take an age before he answered.

"They take their tribute every full moon. The humans that live within the walls of the citadel ... they give the vampires their tribute."

Well, that answered that.

When is the worst time for two strangers, who smell especially tasty to vampires, to be caught in a vampire run city?

When the human slaves are presenting their sacrifices.


	3. The Citadel

Jumping the Void

_A/N: I haven't forgotten Electric Limbo – I'm just at a bit of a standstill with it right now. Rather than sitting, staring at a blank word doc, I figured it was best to get this idea out of my brain to make way for any inspiration that might pop up :o)_

**Chapter 3 – The Citadel**

We rode for another hour, passing a couple of settlements along the way. Alcide told me that they were groups of Weres that had requested to settle in his territory and join forces with the Longtooth pack. Apparently, as long as the two-natured stayed away from the Vampire areas and didn't try to get in the way of the Vampires ruling of other species – they were left to get on with it.

"The two-natured came off badly during the last war. As much as we're better than the vamps – having a pulse and everything – they're stronger than us and they can breed quicker."

"Breed?"

"It takes two full Weres nine months to make a new Were – and that new Were won't be able to fight for at least twelve or fourteen years. The Lord Vampire in any area can just order his ten best to turn one human each and three nights later there are another ten Vamps – ready, willing and very able to kill at their maker's command."

I nodded and turned to Claude. He had been listening to everything with interest as he ate an apple from the bags of food we brought. My cousin was looking a lot better today, still a little tired, but not as drawn and exhausted as he had done the previous night. I was almost shocked when he spoke.

"Alcide, is there anyone around?"

Alcide shook his head. "Just us and the road, why?"

"Could you stop the cart for a moment while I test my strength?"

Alcide nodded and guided the horse to the side of the road before bringing the cart to a halt. Claude jumped off the end and stretched his arms out wide before popping to the front of the cart. The horse was startled and reared up on his hind legs. Claude quickly popped back to the rear of the cart and left Alcide to calm the beast. I narrowed my eyes at him and crossed my arms.

"I apologise for startling your beast of burden." He called out while rolling his eyes.

That was probably as close to 'sorry' as I'd be able to pull from him in the circumstances. Once Alcide calmed Buck (not a name I'd pick for a horse but different strokes and all that), we were back on the road.

"It's good you've got your magic back. You'll need it if Dessie can't help you."

I frowned. "If Dessie can't help us, then we won't be able to stay in the Citadel. We'll need to leave before it gets dark – get as far away as possible."

"And I wish you the best of luck with that."

"You're not coming with us?"

"I'll take you to Dessie, that's as far as I go. I already told you I won't put my pack in danger and, come nightfall, Eric the Northman will be looking for you again. I promised my pack council that he wouldn't find you in Wolveswood."

"You've already been more than generous."

I swallowed the lump in my throat and blinked away my tears. I had fooled myself into thinking that _this_ Alcide would go out of his way to help me as much as the Alcide I knew. I shook my head, trying to chase away my self-pity and I realised that _this_ Alcide had a lot more to lose than the Alcide back in our world. I felt Claude take my hand again and turned to him.

"You might as well face it, Sookie. We're all each other has, all of those we had to aid us in our world ... they either don't exist here or they are completely different."

I nodded and rested my head on Claude's shoulder. I estimated that we'd been on the road for a couple of hours, whether that was accurate or not was anyone's guess. Another ten minutes passed before Alcide told us to get under the blankets because we were entering Vampire territory. From under the woollen hiding place I could hear the sound of Buck's hooves change as we went from dirt to something harder. The cart rattled jarringly and I assumed we were now riding along a cobblestone road.

"We're coming up to the Citadel, there's no-one around if you want to have a look."

We didn't need any more prompting, Claude and I both poked our heads out from under the blankets and looked at the mass of buildings in the distance. The structures were all dark grey, except for some red banners that were fluttering from the top of an, honest to god, turret which jutted up to the sky like a beacon of the Citadel's magnificence.

"It's a damn castle!" Claude half-chuckled and half-sneered, as if the fact that Vampire's would rule on high from a castle was so obvious they wouldn't stoop to stereotyping.

"It certainly is. I heard Appius modelled it on the old castles in Europe, no idea if that's true or not. I've never been to Europe." I looked at Claude and he nodded, affirming that the Citadel was European in appearance and, also, that Claude had been to Europe. "The gates are up ahead, you should get back down."

We once again hunkered under the woollen camouflage. The closer we got to the Citadel, the worse the smell got. There certainly was something to be said for country living, although I didn't remember if the country air smelled quite so sweet in my world. The cart came to a stop once again and I heard voices. One of them was, obviously, Alcide's, but the other was familiar too.

"Show your mark."

"Don't have one, I'm from Longtooth Country."

"State your business."

The short, to the point, requests without politeness or enthusiasm were all too familiar. My telepathy confirmed the voice from the grave, in my world at least, was Bobby Burnham. It seemed no matter what universe he was in – he was just a hair above plain humans in the Vampire Hierarchy.

"I need to speak with the Librarian. I was told I could find him here. And, before you ask, no – it can't wait until the next time he passes through."

"Very well." I heard Alcide suck a sharp breath through his teeth, I took a guess that Bobby was hurting him somehow. "You have a one day pass, emphasis on the 'day' part. All warm-blooded beings are checked for markings at sundown – if you're still here, you go in the tithe."

"I know the score, buddy."

The cart started rolling again and I squeezed Claude's hand under the blanket, hoping and praying that Bobby wouldn't want to check the cart before going into the Citadel. In the grand scheme of things – today was a lucky day. I felt the cart make several turnings before the sunlight shining through the fibres of the blanket disappeared. We stopped again and Alcide told us to sit tight and not reveal ourselves until he came back.

Without a friendly soul around, I could tell Claude was doing the same thing as me. Trying not to move, trying not to even breathe too loudly, just in case someone very unfriendly passed by. Although he was bigger, stronger and more confident than me; Claude also had more to be afraid of than me. I only had one, particular Vampire on my tail. If Claude stood upwind from an undead gathering he would have a posse chasing him through this unfamiliar place.

Without the sense of sight, my ears seemed to zero in on the tiniest sound – and the most distinctive. I could hear children playing, Moms calling for them to behave, other carts and horses nearby and the scratching of small animals closer by. There was a creaking, like heavy doors being pushed closed and then the sound of metal sliding against metal. Both Claude and I jumped with fright as a hand slapped the side of the cart.

"All clear." The giggle I let out was almost hysterical as Alcide pulled the blanket from us. "There's a door at the end of this tunnel – you'll find Dessie in there."

I nodded and scrambled from the cart; Claude took more time and stopped right in front of Alcide with his hand extended.

"You've been a great help to us in a time of need, Alcide. Thank you."

I don't know if it meant much, seeing as we were in a different world to our own, but what Claude had just done was very important. A Fairy thanking someone meant they were obligated to them.

"If I ever pass through a portal and end up in your world – I would expect the same treatment."

"Of course, Alcide." I took one of his warm hands in both of mine. "Even though we're a lot of trouble, I really appreciate you helping us this much."

Alcide nodded and pointed to the end of the tunnel. "You better get a move on; if these doors are closed and a guard passes by they won't hesitate to break them down."

We said goodbye to someone we trusted. Claude clung to me almost as tightly as I was holding onto him as we made our way up the stone staircase. Neither of us knew who, or what, we would find at the top. What if we shouldn't have trusted Alcide? What if he had just sold us to the highest bidder? What if we were jumping from the frying pan into the fire?

I tried to lick my lips, but my mouth was bone dry from nerves. Claude gripped the door handle and I saw him close his eyes and take a deep breath before pushing it open. We slowly peered into the room and heard a voice calling to us from beyond the shelves of books.

"You're quite safe here and I understand you have some questions."

My heart leapt in my chest and I saw Claude brighten too. "Mr. Cataliades!"

We made our way through the stacks to find him looking rather confused as he sat at the biggest desk I've ever seen.

"Mister Cataliades? No-one has called me that for ... hundreds of years." He frowned. "The Vampires and humans who know me call me the Librarian. The Others ... they call me Dessie, or Desmond. They don't stand by formalities."

"Ah ... I don't really know you by any other name."

"And I usually refer to you as 'The Demon Lawyer'." Claude added. His input wasn't welcome.

"You can't use that word here."

I panicked and babbled. "Claude didn't mean any harm, if you don't want anyone to know you're a demon, we'll keep your secret."

Mr. Cataliades, Dessie, The Librarian ... whatever he fancied calling himself at that moment – he laughed. He laughed so hard a tear spilled down one of his fat cheeks. Claude and I went back to holding hands, both of us confused at his reaction.

"Oh I'm a demon, and everyone knows it! Law – its enforcement and trials regarding it – is only practiced by Vampires. I am not entitled to such a lofty title as 'Lawyer', because I'm not a Vampire."

Claude frowned and sneered. "You may practice and do the work but you may not claim the benefits?"

Dessie nodded but his smile was bitter. "And _that_ is how I survived when thousands didn't."

"By becoming a slave – just like the vapid humans!"

Dessie snarled, and before I knew what was happening, he had Claude by the wrists. My cousin's flesh smoked under The Librarian's hold and Claude wailed in pain.

"Do not judge me boy! I survive so I can help runaways and idiots like you hide from the Vampires!"

"Please, stop!"

I placed a hand gently on Dessie's arm, hoping he would calm down and let go before he did even more damage. The look in Dessie's eyes was cold as he let go and pushed Claude away from him. I held Claude to me as he inspected the damage. I noticed some redness and blistering and hoped that the injuries were more cosmetic than anything.

"I apologise for Claude's outburst. We don't know a lot about this world – including how we got here and how we can get back home again. We'd very much appreciate it if you could help us."

"Tell me exactly how you came to be in our world."

So, we did. Claude explained the type of magic he used and I described things from my point of view too. With everything that had happened, any anger I had toward Claude had evaporated with my fear and the fact that he was my only anchor in this world. He was also my only chance at getting back home, considering he was the last Fae on this version of Earth and, consequently, the only one with the right type of magic to try and jimmy the locks on another portal.

"Many have believed in an infinite number of universes, stacked on top of each other." Dessie took out a piece of paper and drew a horizontal line on it. "You start with one universe, then something changes – it could be something tiny, a single decision or action that happens in one universe but not in the other and you end up with two separate timelines."

He drew two lines on top of each other and carried on until he had about ten lines. I understood what he was saying perfectly – it was just like that Gwyneth Paltrow movie, Sliding Doors. One decision, one action could change everything ... like missing a train or running to catch it. I remembered renting it from the video store and watching it with Gran.

"Now, between universes you can have wormholes. These have never been proven to exist, not in this world anyway, but they connect all of the universes." Dessie drew little tubes between the lines to illustrate. "You came through a known portal – a gateway between realms, different worlds entirely. These, apparently, aren't exclusive to this universe but they connect completely different universes – not parallel universes."

Another piece of paper was introduced with a circle at each corner. Dessie explained that a number of realms were connected by portals, Fae, Demon ... any number of races and species. But that Claude's magical portal invasion had mutated the gateway and that instead of us travelling from universe A to universe B or C or D – we had travelled to universe A1. The same world but a different reality - an alternate Universe.

"What Claude did was incredible, unheard of, and also very difficult to fix."

Peace of mind that ain't. I sighed and rubbed at my temples. "What if he tried it again with another portal?"

Claude stared at me with wide eyes. "Seriously, Sookie, we don't know where we'd end up!"

"So you want to stay here where we'll be hunted? I'll be hunted by Eric because I have his blood and you'll be hunted because you're Fae and they'll be sniffing you out as soon as the sun goes down!"

"There's also the issue of finding an unguarded portal."

Both of us looked at Dessie and spoke in unison. "Unguarded?"

Dessie sighed. "Do you think the Vampires went to all the trouble of clearing out every other realm Supes might escape to and then just leave them open for anyone to use? All of the Vampire strongholds – are built on top of the known portals."

"Then how did we get through?" I was confused; if that was the case then we should have been spat into some Vampire dungeon.

"As you explained – Claude kicked down the door of the space-time continuum. He basically created a portal where there wasn't one before. And your only chance of getting out of this universe alive is to get to another portal and do exactly the same thing you did before."

My eyes flicked to the window where the sun was streaming through. "And what are our chances of doing that before sundown?"

Dessie took out a pocket-watch and frowned at it. "Very slim. In my opinion your only chance of survival is for me to bring someone who can break your blood bond and mask your scent until we can come up with a plan."

I'd thought about breaking the bond a fair bit since it was created. I'd even asked Amelia to look into finding a spell that would accomplish that task. I never thought I'd be breaking the bond for any other reason than to find out if our feelings, mine's _and_ Eric's, were still the same without that connection. Breaking the bond to stop Eric from killing me was a damn good reason.

"We would very much appreciate if you could find that person, Dessie, very much indeed."

Claude nodded next to me. "I will also need to gather my strength if I'm to use the same magic on another portal – some food and drink and somewhere to rest would also be appreciated."

Dessie smiled slightly. "There's a safe room – at the back. It's sound proof – you two should stay in there while I get her. I'll get you some food and water for the room and there is a bed in there already."

We were ushered into a half-sized door behind a bookcase and settled into the small room quickly. I ate some bread and some hard cheese and dried berries while Claude gorged himself on the salted meats and crackers. He was still eating as I drifted off to sleep. Considering how much I had to think (and worry) about, I was surprised I managed to rest at all.

~v~

I woke with a start; my dream had left me in a panic. I panted and wiped the sweat from my forehead, shuddering at the images of Eric and the different ways that he might end my life. I'd seen how brutal Vampires could be, if not with my own eyes then in the minds of the people who served them or crossed them. Sometimes they were brutal purely by accident, or instinct, as my experience in the trunk of a Lincoln had shown me.

Claude was snoring softly on the mat next to me and I wondered what time it was. I wondered how long I'd been asleep, how long it would be until Dessie came back with the woman who would help keep us alive another night. I wonder how long it was until sundown. Without any windows in the tiny room, it was impossible to tell. Not that I was an expert on knowing the time by looking at the position of the sun, especially when I didn't even know which way was west. My eyes darted to the door as I heard the bolt being slid back; I smacked Claude's leg a couple of times to wake him up.

Dessie came through the tiny doorway first, followed by the woman who could help us. My breath caught in my throat, but I managed to squeak out one word.

"Hallow."

She frowned as she stood to her full height. "I'm not sure which world you're from but here we pronounce it 'hello'. I am Marnie Stonebrook."

Claude looked at me, confusion spoiling his handsome face. "Hallow was the witch who cursed Eric, yes?"

I nodded and Dessie suggested we leave the tiny room so they could hear about the events from my universe. I could tell Marnie was incredibly interested. We settled around the huge desk and I told them of a Vampire with no memory of himself who was taken in by the woman he eventually fell in love with. Marnie stopped me before I got to the very end.

"I was killed and the spell was removed. I know how it works. I must say – this is incredibly fascinating. If we weren't in so much of a rush, I could listen to your stories for days!"

Her eyes were twinkling, as were Dessie's. I frowned a little not knowing why my traumas and heartaches brought them so much joy. Dessie must have determined my upset.

"The stories or legends that are told here are very ... pro-Vampire. They are the ones, who prevail with no help from, what they refer to as, inferior species. To hear a tale where a Vampire is rescued by a part-human is ... incredible!"

I nodded slowly, understanding what he was saying but finding it difficult to distance myself from my memories and reclassify them as 'stories'. Marnie wanted to know how our bond was formed so she could be sure she was using the right spell. Once again, they sat rapt in my recounting of all the times Eric had given me blood and by the time I finished up with my dramatic rescue of Eric and Felipe in the Merlotte's parking lot, Marnie was frowning.

"Although breaking the bond right now seems like a good plan – I have an alternative. In your world, the bond has stood you in good stead, for you and your Eric. You will go through the portal before sundown under a different spell."

Dessie nibbled at his lower lip and shook his head. "There isn't enough time, I would need to make a test run and count guards through the castle. I've used the portal here very rarely – you _know_ that its usage is monitored, Marnie."

"They can only monitor what they notice." She smiled and started taking different herbs and doo-dads out of a large bag.

~v~

To say I was cautious about sneaking into a Vampire castle under a 'look away' spell was a severe underestimation. Once again, Claude and I held onto each other as we walked the streets of the Citadel, toward our escape. Or our demise – it was fifty-fifty. Those weren't odds I liked, but there wasn't any other choice. Not if we ever wanted to get back home.

Just as Marnie had said, people ignored us. Those who did glance our way simply shrugged like they had happened upon a trick of the light. It was a damn good spell. Dessie checked his pocket-watch several times on the trip there. Each time Marnie huffed and told him we had plenty of daylight left. We finally got inside the castle, the guards oblivious to our presence with their standard human senses.

As suspected, the portal was in the bowels of the building. The castle smelled like death and decay. Dessie whispered that it was the product of years of draining humans and leaving the dead bodies for their servants to dispose of. Apparently, sometimes the bodies were left for days until the servants found them and disposed of them. If there was a newborn in the ranks, there were more to move.

"Don't the Vampires ever worry about running out of humans? If they kill them as often as you say they do – surely they'll run out of food at some point."

"The humans here are forced to breed – no human can go in the tithe or be part of the tribute until they have spawned two children. Appius learned from Godfrey's mistakes. Godfrey made the humans under his rule give them their sons – with no minimum age. Soon his lands were barren and he was left with wailing women to feed from."

I didn't need to ask any more questions about that, I knew all about Godfrey's (or Godric's) tastes in food. In my world he had met the sun to atone for his sins against humanity, I had no desire to ask if the same thing had happened in this world.

When we got to the portal, it was guarded by two humans. Thankfully, neither of them were familiar to me. Dessie explained that the guards changed at midnight, sunrise, noon and sundown. He checked his watch and nodded to Marnie. I was shocked when she nodded back and then swiftly blew some dust in the face of both guards. They closed their eyes and slumped to the ground.

"Are they dead?"

"No, they'll sleep for a day or so and wake up none the worse." Marnie put her hands on Claude's shoulders. "It's time."

"There are two hours before sunset. Can you do it?"

Claude nodded. "I'm feeling strong, stronger than I was the last time, it shouldn't take that long. You may want to leave, unless you want to be sucked into wherever we end up."

Without thinking, I ran forward and hugged both Dessie and Marnie and thanked them for their help. Claude said 'Thank You' to both of them too before turning to the portal and starting the magical process.

He hadn't been working long when he spoke. "It feels different this time. I don't feel like I'm forcing the barrier as much."

He smiled, that was a good sign – right? "Maybe it's because the portals here aren't closed off by Niall's magic?"

"Possibly." He answered and pushed the light from his hands toward the swirling red light.

I felt the portal start to pull us in, this time I didn't resist. Maybe we would find ourselves somewhere more dangerous but there was that small chance that we would find our way home. I kept my eyes closed as we were sucked into the swirling mass and didn't open them until I felt myself on solid ground. I didn't feel as sick this time and managed to keep my stomach contents where they were despite my nausea.

My hearing hadn't been affected the last time, but this time it was like sirens were going off in my head. I turned my head and saw Claude with his hands over his ears.

"_We have a positive encounter - FPCON Delta. All units report to epicentre catwalk."_

When I looked up, all I saw were a row of soldiers pointing guns in our direction and the red flashing lights that accompanied the klaxons illuminating the fear in their eyes.


	4. The Resistance

Jumping the Void

**Chapter 4 – The Resistance**

Instinctively, I put my hands in the air and nudged Claude so he would do the same. They might have fear in their eyes but the brains were screaming that every single one of their trigger fingers were itchy. One wrong move and both of us would have more holes than the strainer I used to make pasta at home. The klaxon was silenced, but the red lights still flashed. I tried to concentrate long enough to take in my surroundings, but with so many humans all thinking at me it was very difficult.

There was a metal staircase in front of us, I looked up and around. The whole portal was surrounded by catwalks and metal platforms – and the US armed forces. When I turned to Claude, it was clear he was angry and confused, despite his lack of energy. This obviously wasn't home. In our universe, the army didn't guard the portals against 'encounters'. In the last world, Dracula had risen as a Vampire and rallied the whole species to a rebellion. I wondered what happened in this universe that would have alerted the military to the portals and have them watching them.

We were roughly pulled to our feet and patted down. I wanted to scream that we didn't have any weapons; that we weren't there to hurt them ... that we just wanted to get back to our own world.

"No weapons, Sir." A young man with 'Hardy' stitched to his left breast pulled my hands behind my back and slipped a cold metal bracelet on each wrist.

I'd never been handcuffed before.

Claude looked completely exhausted and put up no resistance as they restrained him. Both of us looked to the stairs as we heard the heavy footsteps come towards us. My eyes almost popped out of my head when I recognised the features of the man in front of us. A glance at his left breast confirmed that I had reason for my shock.

Gen. T. Bellefleur.

His mind was completely different to that of the Terry who swept the floor in Merlotte's. It was ordered, clear ... sane. As we were pushed away from the portal, up the stairs and into a room with no furniture and smooth white walls, I wondered what other differences we'd find in this universe.

I should have been wondering what the military were going to do with me and Claude. But maybe my mind was protecting me by not letting me think about that. I could 'hear' all the human soldiers buzzing around the complex. With no idea of where we were, no-one to ask for information and no furniture in the room, Claude and I huddled against each other in a corner.

~v~

When you're awake and on edge, the smallest amount of time feels like hours. My muscles ached from the tension and my head was pounding from everyone's brains being on red alert. I had no idea how to piece together the snippets of thoughts I was being bombarded with. For a brief moment, I wished we'd stayed in the Citadel and taken our chances with the Vampires, at least the humans in the Citadel weren't so loud I couldn't think straight. There must have been hundreds of minds in a tiny area – the concentration of thoughts was overwhelming.

I tried to close off my mind, actively imagining closing myself off brick by brick. Not blocking their thoughts but shutting myself inside my own head. As if sensing my struggle, Claude gently rubbed at my shoulder and rocked me back and forth on the white floor of the cell.

"You need to stay with me, Sookie; I don't think I can do this without you."

Closing my eyes, I grabbed Claude's hand and squeezed as hard as I could. "I'm trying. There's just so many of them."

Despite his exhaustion and whatever feelings he had about us not being back in our own universe, Claude put his mouth to mine and breathed into me. I felt better, much better, immediately but was consumed by guilt when I heard Claude cough and saw how grey his skin was. I left his side and went to the door, bumping my shoulder against it as I tried to get someone's attention.

"Excuse me? Is anyone there?" I frowned, not knowing what I should ask for if someone came. "Are we entitled to the basic human right of food? If you're going to prevent us from getting our own food – you need to provide it!"

I jumped back as a slot on the door opened. "Non-humans don't get human rights, bitch!"

"Stand down, soldier."

Despite Terry being back, I didn't breathe a sigh of relief. Instead I went over to Claude and hunkered down next to him.

"My cousin needs food and somewhere to rest. When will you be questioning us? That's why we're in a cell isn't it? Until you can question us and then decide what to do with us."

"You're very astute ... and familiar. I knew a girl who looked like you once. Her name was Sookie."

"Was?" I tried to keep down the bile that was rising from my stomach.

"She was executed a couple years back. She was a danger to National security ... and there were too many non-humans trying to bust her out of isolation."

And to think that earlier I'd been proud of myself for not throwing up all over the place. I guess pride _does_ come before a fall. I could hear the disgusted thoughts of General Bellefleur and the soldier next to him.

"Get them out of there and bring in a clean-up crew. That'll stink up the whole compound if it isn't dealt with right away. Prepare them for transport ASAP."

I didn't ask where we were being transported to. I was too busy thinking about landing in a universe that had already killed me – and by order of the government into the bargain. Claude and I got one look at each other as we were hauled out of the white room. The fear I was feeling was reflected in my cousin's eyes.

We were un-cuffed and thrown in another room and viciously hosed down with cold water before being separated. I was pulled into a small cubicle and stripped bare by a man I had never seen before. His thoughts on how scarred and tired my body was was translated into a look of distaste on his face. I had been violated in many ways before – but none of them were sanctioned by people who ran the country I was proud to have been born in. In a way, that hurt more than anything else I had gone through in the past. A towel was tossed in my direction, along with a yellow jumpsuit. No underwear. And as I dried myself with the towel I thought, ridiculously, they didn't think we deserved fabric softener either.

My skin was red raw with the cold water and rough towel as I pulled the jumpsuit on – all under the watchful glare of Corporal Ruddick. I held back my tears, I refused to cry. Not because I didn't want them to see me as weak – but because I knew that's why they were treating me the way they were. They wanted me to cry. They wanted me to break down. They wanted me to be emotional. Unhinged and easily manipulated.

I stood up straight and looked Ruddick right in the eye. "Enjoy the show?"

"Shut up and turn around."

I complied slowly, clasping my hands behind my back in anticipation of the cuffs being replaced. Ruddick urged me ahead by using the barrel of his rifle as a prod for my lower back. As if I needed more bruises to add to the one on my chest from Eric's sword. Two other soldiers took an arm each and pulled me along the metal walkways into a small hangar. There were two small aircraft and a few SUVs. I spotted Claude coming out of a door near mine, his face was red on one side and the eye was starting to swell.

The fact that Claude had been assaulted, and goodness knows what else, while he was being 'prepared for transport' made my tears prickle and threaten to spill over more than when it was me being stripped and inspected. I was pushed into the back of one of the SUVs and moments later, Claude joined me. Corporal Ruddick was seated between us and General Bellefleur was in the passenger seat. The driver was also human – and wondering where the hell we came from because he didn't know of any prisoners that had been transported into Millwood Lake compound.

The only 'Millwood Lake' I knew of was in Arkansas, seemed like that was the unluckiest state in the whole country for me.

The car moved slowly from the hangar, but as soon as we passed the security gates it was pedal to the metal. There was a digital display on the dash; I had to crane my neck to see the date – much to the displeasure of Corporal Ruddick. It was 2007 here too.

And I was dead.

Every time I tried to lean forward to look at Claude, I'd be pushed back into my seat by Ruddick. The third time he did it, I snapped.

"I'm just trying to look at the injuries my cousin accrued while in military care!" I spat it out, venomously, and got the butt of his gun in my face for the effort.

My vision was blurred, even after the stars had faded and I was pretty sure he'd broken my nose. My top lip was wet and when I darted my tongue out, I tasted blood. General Bellefleur caught my eyes in the rear-view mirror and shook his head. He was thinking that I should have kept my mouth shut, just like I should have kept my mouth shut back in Bon Temps.

~v~

The only good thing about the new universe we found ourselves in was the fact that I knew what time it was. After twenty minutes of watching my nose drip blood onto my yellow jumpsuit, Bellefleur tossed a handkerchief to Ruddick and told him to clean up some of the mess he made. I screamed as Ruddick grabbed at my nose with the fabric. It was definitely broken.

We drove for another twenty-five minutes before the sun went down. With the exception of universe A1 (that's what I taken to thinking of the world with Wolveswood and the Citadel as), I'd never feared the darkening skies. My most serious injuries were inflicted by creatures that could walk in the daylight – just like these soldiers in the car with me. We drove along highways and on to the interstate, going by the signs we were heading west on I-30. My stomach growled loudly and I closed my eyes, expecting another poke with Ruddick's gun for not being able to control the sounds my body made.

_Sookie?_

I stiffened in my seat at the mental intrusion. I glanced at Ruddick and he curled his lip at me. "You'll get something to eat when you get to the Terrorist Detention Centre."

I nodded slowly and closed my eyes.

_Sookie?_

_**I can hear you ... Barry?**_

_Yes! _I could feel his relief through the thoughts he was sending to me. _Eric is tracking you. A retrieval team is en route._

_**Eric can still track me?**_ That was a big thumbs up to Marnie for not breaking the bond. _**I don't know what's happening, Barry, I'm not from this world.**_

_You sure as hell aren't. No-one has ever come back from the dead like this before._

I wanted to tell him that I never died. I was never executed. Instead, I mentally nodded to him and tried to block off any further communication. Either it worked or Barry sensed that I wasn't up for some light, telepathic, conversation. A retrieval team was en route. I tried not to get excited about that. I had no idea what kind of retrieval team Eric would be part of. I had no idea why Eric would be part of a retrieval team.

There was also the multitude of questions I wanted to direct to General Bellefleur. But it would be rude and disrespectful to ask a man how he managed to rise to General and not go nuts instead. Strangely, I was proud of this Terry – not because he thought me and Claude were terrorists and aided in our brutalisation – but because he'd succeeded where my world's Terry didn't. Terry was never the same after he came back from Vietnam, I concluded that _this _Terry either avoided the trip or never needed to go there in the first place.

They always say that when you're waiting for something to happen, it'll happen when you get distracted. 'They' say a lot of stuff, but in this instance they're right. While I was pondering the history of Terry Bellefleur, the SUV swerved violently.

"How in the hell did they know we were in transport?"

Ruddick grabbed my head and pushed it down toward the floor. I have no idea if he did the same thing with Claude; I was busy trying to muffle the sound of gunfire with my knees pressed against my ears. The SUV shook and I heard a man scream fairly close by.

"Go! Go! Go! Run the fuckers down!" Bellefleur shouted at the driver but the car didn't move.

The engine was revving and I could feel the vibration of the wheels turning, but the car wasn't going anywhere. I was too scared to look around and find out what was going on, I had no way to protect myself and I had no way to try and escape - so I did what seemed to be the best thing to do in that situation - I prayed. I prayed while I felt Ruddick's weight being removed from my back (he had been leaning on me while firing his rifle out of the window). I prayed while the door made hideous screeching noises as it was ripped from the side of the SUV. I prayed while hearing General Terrence Bellefleur begging for his life. I didn't stop praying until I heard someone say my name.

"Sookie? It's Claudine, can you hear me?"

I opened my eyes to see my beautiful cousin gazing down at me as I lay in her arms.

"Talk about coming back from the dead!" I chuckled tiredly and relished her comfort as she popped us to a safe location.

~v~

Claudine put me down on a mattress in a dimly lit room and removed the cuffs. I had no idea where we were but I knew the first thing I wanted to do was check on Claude. I stood up and asked her where he was.

"Which one?" She pursed her lips and frowned. "The one you came through a portal with or the one who's been here the whole time?"

"The one who's with me, the soldiers beat him."

Claudine nodded. "He's in the other room receiving some healing. You'll see him once I've dealt with your injuries. Questions can wait until you're both able to think clearly."

She told me to lie back down so she could try to fix my nose. I watched her take a deep breath and raise her hands but we were disturbed by the door of the room being thrown wide and Eric rushing in. Claudine jumped back and pulled a long silver chain from beneath the sweater she was wearing.

"Stay back!"

"I'm not here for you." Eric sneered before looking down at me. "I don't know where you're from or how you managed to get so much of my blood in you but it's lucky that you did."

He bit into his wrist and held it out to me. I sat up and watched the blood ooze from the wound.

"If me having so much of your blood causes confusion, why do you want me to have more?"

"A little more won't make a difference, I know how much is too much, and it will work quicker and more effectively than Fae healing. I have questions and I want answers, the sooner, the better."

I turned to Claudine; she nodded and confirmed that Eric's blood would be more efficient than her magic. As hard as I tried to concentrate, I couldn't feel this Eric at all – which meant that he hadn't had enough of my blood to form a bond. Eric kept his eyes closed as I drank from his wrist; if he was enjoying it (like he seemed to in my world) he hid it well. I could feel my nose knit together and my body thrummed with nervous energy. I remembered how I felt after having his blood in Mississippi. After the last couple of days I could look back fondly at being staked and think 'good times'. Whatever my world put me through – I was never on the run to save my life. Not like this.

Eric pulled his wrist away and looked at the floor. "When she's ready, Claudine, please bring her to the meeting room."

Claudine nodded and watched as he left the room. She gently took my hand and showed me to a bathroom. "Get cleaned up, I'll try and find you some clothes."

What followed was definitely number one in my top ten showers of all time. It was warm, there was decent soap and I was alone. Bliss.

~v~

When Claudine led me to the meeting room, I was tickled by the sight of two Claudes sitting staring at each other. Then I thought about how I would feel if I was sitting across from myself and sobered. There were a lot of people there that I didn't know but some that I did. Eric, Claude, Niall, Andre, Quinn, Amanda, Dr. Ludwig and Barry were all there, staring at me with wonder. I nodded to the room and went to sit quietly in a corner, but I was stopped by my Great-Grandfather's voice.

"Sookie, I must say – it's wonderful to see you again."

"Thanks but ... I'm not the Sookie that you saw last." He laughed and some of the others smiled or chuckled. "I'm not even sure who most of you are."

One of the Claudes came over and sat down next to me, holding my hand like it was a life-raft. I figured that was a pretty good indicator of how to tell the two Claudes apart. The other Claude simply raised an eyebrow.

"In your world ... are we mates?" He asked loudly. I saw Eric's fingers twitch.

"Ah no. We've just been through a lot together in the last couple of days."

"More than I ever thought I would – without Sookie I would have been stranded in another world, a world more dangerous than this one."

I rubbed lightly at his hand as he told everyone the story of how he tried to open the first portal and we ended up in Universe A1. That night in the woods behind my house seemed like forever ago now. The crowded room was focussed on Claude, except Eric. He stared at me as he listened, not with malice or fear or love or even affection. It was ... indifferent, like he was assessing me. I couldn't help but feel disappointed that our relationship here was nothing like the one we shared in my world.

When Claude was done, it was our turn to ask questions. It turned out that after the Vampires came out of the coffin, there was a backlash when a Conservative politician's daughter was reported missing after visiting a Vampire bar in Arizona. She was never found. But while the BVA were fighting for the Vampire's right to own property in my world, properties that were reported to house Vampires in this one were being burned down.

From there it was only a matter of time before other Supes were earmarked for detention facilities. The NSA didn't have to ask too many questions around Bon Temps to get the impression I wasn't quite all human. Quinn picked up the story for a while, his violet eyes looking at me sadly as he spoke.

"A lot of the two-natured are still living like they did before. But down here in the south – they conducted 'humanity' tests. When the prospect of people being able to turn into animals became government knowledge, the police rounded folks up for the full moon. You know we _have_ to change then, there's no stopping it."

"How did they find out about the portals?"

"Quite by accident, I'm afraid." Niall leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. "A policeman was conducting a routine search and one of the Fae exited the portal right in front of him. Murry always was stupid, he's dead now, but not before he gave them a wealth of information from behind iron bars."

"So all non-humans are terrorists?" My Claude was still holding my hand. "And you're ... freedom fighters?"

Claudine grinned. "We try to keep as many Supes as possible from being imprisoned. There are Resistance cells all over, it was you, Sookie, who had the idea that we should band together."

"Me?" I gulped.

Apparently 'The Resistance' all started with Sam Merlotte busting me out of a jail cell in Bon Temps. At my insistence the two of us freed Vampires (one of them Eric) from detention cells and those Vampires teamed up with us when we started freeing all the other Supes. The Fae joined in to try and make their portals safe to use again. And the rest, as these guys were saying, is history.

Despite my infusion of Eric's blood, I started to feel weary. But I had one more question before the meeting was adjourned.

"Did the Vietnam war ever happen in this universe?"

~v~

I wasn't surprised when my Claude took my hand and followed me to the room I'd be sleeping in. I was actually a little thankful of the extra body there when Eric whizzed past us and blocked the doorway.

"Ah ... you wanted to talk to me. I get it. Why don't you come inside and I'll answer your questions."

"I won't be able to ask many if you keep the Fairy around." He smirked at Claude and I saw my cousin go a little green at the gills.

"Now you just stop that buddy!"

Eric hissed at me. "Buddy?"

I remembered a similar altercation going a little differently back in my world. I sent Claude into the room and promised him I'd be there as soon as I could. Eric led me through the hallways and out the front door. He sat down on the steps of the porch and turned to stare at me as I followed suit.

"We are lovers in your world. I can feel your affection for me."

"Yes ... we're a little more, I guess, we're bonded." His eyes widened a little at that. "And we're married ... Vampire style. Neither of us really asked for those things to happen."

"Explain."

"Uh ... well, we ended up bonded because you gave me your blood a few times and you had mine ... a good few times."

"During sex?"

"Mostly, although there was one time you were injured. Anyway, Andre wanted me to be tied to someone in Sophie-Anne's retinue – he wanted it to be him but you stepped in and saved me from ending up bonded to Andre instead."

"Why would I do that?" Eric was genuinely confused; you could see it in his eyes. That hurt a little.

"Because you liked me. We had shared some experiences together, you had feelings for me. That's why you tricked me into marrying you too."

"You didn't return those feelings and I had to trick you into marrying me?" The confusion was turning into incredulousness.

"No. You tricked me into marrying you so the King of Nevada wouldn't take me away." I sighed and rubbed my temples. "Look, why don't I tell you everything – a story. The story of the Eric and Sookie from my world, then you can tell me how different it was for us ... them ... here."

Eric nodded and I took a deep breath. I hoped Claude didn't mind being left on his own for a little longer.

_A/N: If anyone has any ideas for the types of universes they'd be interested in seeing Sookie and Claude jump into next - feel free. I'm all for reader interaction :o)_


	5. Family Secrets

Jumping the Void

_A/N: I'd like to thank everyone who has taken the time to leave a review for this fic – you guys are wonderful! I try to respond to as many as my spare time (i.e. not running around after my kids, husband and customers at work or writing) allows me. This chapter is brought to you by the letter 'P' for PMR and her LJ blog which gave me a cracker of an idea!_

**Chapter 5 – Family Secrets**

I'll give Eric his due; he didn't interrupt me once during my recollections of my life since Bill had walked into Merlotte's. When I was done he just nodded and looked at me carefully for a few minutes before speaking.

"That explains the feelings I sense from you. In this universe ... we had a different relationship."

"I'm guessing we were never together huh?"

"Yes and no. We had sex, once. And just like in your world, there was always a mutual attraction but you denied me because of Sam."

Eric told me the history of us from his universe. It was a lot simpler. Sam and I broke Eric out of a detention cell along with Pam and Longshadow. We flirted but I was with Sam. That's the way it stayed until Sam was taken out by a bullet to the neck while trying to free a group of two-natured. The only time I had sex with Eric in this world was one week after the resistance buried Sam in a makeshift grave at the side of I-55.

A week after that I was dead. Well, the version of Sookie that lived in this world was dead.

"So it was grief sex?"

"I suppose so." Eric shrugged. "It was satisfactory."

My mouth gaped. Sex with Eric and it was _satisfactory_? "I ... why would you tell me that?"

"Because I want to see if you're better in bed than the other Sookie, you would at least be familiar with what pushes my buttons."

I guess I was surprised at his bluntness, I hadn't always appreciated _my_ Eric's comments of that variety but I appreciated them even less from _this_ Eric. But before I could shoot him down he was right next to me, pressing his body against mine. He _smelled_ like my Eric. I pushed him away and he moved, I guess that was something else he had in common with my Eric.

"I won't sleep with you. You look like my Eric, you sound like my Eric and you smell like my Eric ... but you're not."

"Are you saying that being in a strange world, after going through so much, you would hold something as trivial as a difference in history against me, when I can offer you comfort?"

"I won't cheat on my Eric."

"Suit yourself. If you'll excuse me, I need to have some supper."

I nodded and he took off into the sky. When I got back into the room I was sharing with Claude, I was almost run over by Niall coming out the door as I was about to go in. He stopped right in front of me and I knew the look on his face very well - guilt. But why would Niall feel guilty about being caught coming out of me and Claude's room?

"Is everything okay, Great-Grandfather?"

Now there was some shock added to the guilt. "We never told you in this world. When you and Claude referred to each other as 'cousin', I had an idea you would have known or guessed what relation I was to you."

"Actually, you ... brokered an introduction to me through Eric. You sought me out."

"Well, it's natural for someone to seek out extended family."

I smiled at him but didn't really feel the love. Ever since that fancy meal, I'd been wondering why Niall wanted to be introduced to me. The only things it brought any of us were pain and grief. I said goodnight and hugged him, it wasn't infused with the same affection that our hugs were in my world. Maybe, in this world, I'd done something to piss him off.

When I entered the room Claude was wrapped in blankets, lying on his side with his back to the door. Claudine had left some sweats on a chair for me to sleep in. I changed quickly and snuggled up to Claude, expecting him to seek comfort like he had been doing recently. But he just patted my hand and whispered for me to have sweet dreams.

~v~

Sometime before dawn, I woke up. Not long enough to open my eyes, but long enough to hear the door of the room closing softly. Reaching out with my feet, I confirmed that Claude was still in the bed with me and went back to sleep. The next time I woke up it was to Claudine's voice and her hand gently shaking my shoulder.

"Sookie, there's breakfast waiting for you and we're having a meeting to determine which area we should move to next."

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I felt rested, which was the best feeling I'd had in days. It was even better than the clean feeling I had after my shower the night before.

"What time is it?"

"A little after seven, there's a lot to do and I thought you'd want to be part of it."

I nodded and noted that there was another pile of clean clothes waiting for me. "Is there a maid service with the resistance? I can't remember the last time I had clean clothes set out for me in the morning."

That wasn't strictly true, I remembered quite well the last time that had happened. It was my Gran that had done it and I had still been in school. I took a moment to revel in the memory of a time where my life was simple – or as simple as the life of a telepath could be.

Claude was obviously already up and about seeing as he wasn't in the bed with me. I was a little sad that he didn't wait for me; he had seemed so needy since we got pulled through the first portal. But maybe, with other Fae around, he was stronger and his confidence was coming back? On one hand I was happy about that, on the other I was torn because if his confidence was back then I could let rip about how stupid he had been messing around with that portal in the first place!

After another great shower and a very hearty breakfast, I was herded into the living room of the house we were camped out in with all the other two-natured, Fae and humans that were sympathetic and had joined the resistance. Niall and Quinn led the meeting. It was reported that our position was still fairly secure but that we should move on soon. Apparently these guys moved around a lot and never used the same abandoned properties more than once.

"Our next camp should be strategic. Most of you have met our visitors." Niall indicated me and Claude. "And, for the moment, our mission is to help them get back to their own world. That means finding the least secure portal facility and taking out the security detail."

There were murmurs of complaint about that. I squeezed Claude's hand and he smiled at me, but he didn't squeeze back. When I looked around the room I noticed there was only one Claude. That preyed on my mind the whole time Niall and Quinn were pointing to a map of the USA and circling the areas where all of the portals were. Some were crossed out right after circling because the resistance knew how heavily guarded they were, the others that hadn't been crossed out would need to be scoped out to determine how secure they were.

The meeting dragged on for hours, members of the cell called members of other cells to try and get information. I dragged Claude over to the map to see that the Bon Temps portal had been crossed off already.

"I wonder if Gran's house is still there." I said it to myself more than anyone else as I traced I-20 with my finger.

"Oh it's there alright." Niall said from right next to me. I jumped a little, not knowing he was so close. "Or it was a little time after you died anyway. Claudine visited the area to see if they'd had the decency to bury you in the same place as your ancestors, as your human tradition dictates."

I nodded, wondering what kind of mess the place would be in. Would there be soldiers living there now? Did they use it as a barracks for guarding the portal in the woods?

"That's actually something that I wanted to discuss with you." Niall put an arm around me and steered me out of the room, along with Claude, and into the kitchen. "You know that I'm your Great-Grandfather, so I assume you know about Fintan and his relationship with your Grandmother?"

"Yes ... well, I know he got her pregnant twice. I'm not sure how he tricked her into cheating on my Grandfather."

Niall looked confused at that, I always struggled with how little Supes cared for the notions of monogamy when offspring and sex for pleasure were more important.

"Fintan ... he took something from me. He loved your Grandmother very much and I think he may have given it to her."

"Like a ring or a necklace? Oh! Did he steal the royal jewels?" My hand flew to my mouth thinking that Gran had been given stolen goods for services rendered.

"Not quite jewels, a very special object. It could solve all of your problems with one wish."

"A wish?" I snorted. "Did he steal a genie?"

I could see Niall was getting annoyed and sobered up. Obviously this wasn't the time for wisecracks.

"No, it would have been small, green and would have looked like something a woman would use for powdering her face."

He watched intently as I tried to remember seeing something like that around the house. "I don't recall seeing anything like that."

"Oh you wouldn't just see it; you would know how special it was from how it felt to the touch and being close to it."

"Then I definitely don't know what it is or where it might be."

Niall looked even more annoyed, his frown deepened into his handsome face. "If only you could find the Cluviel Dor, you would have the power to get back to your own world without all of the hassle of mutating the portals."

I brightened at that. "Really? You said it granted wishes, right? I could just wish for me and Claude to be back in our own world?"

He nodded and I squeezed Claude's hand, offering him a smile that he couldn't help but return. It seemed like an easy option to me, perhaps a little too easy but sometimes the easiest option really was the right one. A plan of action was quickly formed and Niall called Claudine through to the kitchen to let her know where we would be going.

She quickly refused to have any part of it, calling it a suicide mission for something that probably doesn't even exist anymore. I realised that something was off, why would Niall let Claudine in on the plan but not Claude? Where was Claude – this world's version not the one I was hanging on to? I asked out loud where he was and Claudine simply glared at Niall before popping out of the room.

"Claude ... our Claude, was disturbed by having another one of him walking around. I think he'll be keeping a low profile until we find a way to send you back."

Niall looked solemn as he spoke but it didn't make sense to me. If there was anyone Claude loved looking at it was himself, but maybe something was different about the Claude in this world to the Claude I had next to me.

~v~

By late afternoon I was dizzy. I had been popped here there and everywhere. Recon – Fae style – was not agreeing with my inner ear. When we got back to the resistance base, I needed to lie down for a while. We'd established that the entire Stackhouse property was surrounded by iron fencing but the house was pretty much iron free. The guards were a different matter. I had used my telepathy to gauge how many guards were in the house and try to determine whereabouts in the house they were. The only part of the house I couldn't detect any brains in was the attic. Which turned out to be serendipitous (I really needed to get myself another word of the day calendar when I got home) because, I figured, the attic was the only part of the house I hadn't turned over after Gran Died.

Claude hadn't stayed with me when I went back to our room. He preferred to stay with Niall. It irked me because he was so ready to shrug me off after what we'd been through, it was only the night before he wouldn't let go of me during that meeting. I thought about what had happened after that. I went outside to talk to Eric and when I came back ... Niall! Niall had been in the room with Claude. Had he said something to Claude to make him act so aloof? Well, aloof in comparison to before being left alone with Niall. The more I thought about it, the more annoyed I got. And scared.

What if Claude wanted to stay here with his Fairy kin?

I shook that idea out of my head. He seemed to want this Cluviel whatnot just as much as I did so we could get back to our world. I could understand that, the couple of times he'd used his magic on the portal had left him drained. If I was in that state I'd be desperate to get an easier way out too.

~v~

Claudine came to get me for dinner, she more touchy feely than usual. I got a hug when I woke up and another before I got out of bed, then one more before we left the room. I liked it; I had missed Claudine's hugs since she was killed by Breanden's men. It was still fairly light while we were eating but the sun was starting to go down as we got back to Bon Temps for the most important phase of our mission.

I took a deep breath as I gave Claude the signal that I couldn't sense any people in the area we'd appear and then he put his arms around me and popped us to the attic of my Gran's house. Niall's orders were clear – we were to stick to each other like glue (not a problem for me at all) and search the attic for this Cluviel thingy. When (or if) we found it, we were to pop back to the base ASAP. The attic was pretty much empty apart from some large pieces of furniture. I remembered there being lots of boxes and smaller bits and pieces the last time I put something up there. I also remembered where the pull-cord for the light switch was.

"We should check the furniture, drawers and hidey holes." I whispered.

The buzzing of the minds of the soldiers beneath us was distracting me but I tried to tune them out and took a step toward where I figured the pull-cord was. A floorboard squeaked in protest beneath my foot and I winced. I felt out the current occupants' state of mind – they were still thinking about the same things they were thinking about before I made any noise. The house was old and creaky; many a time I'd heard the groans of the building during a light breeze. I hoped that the soldiers would put any noises Claude and I made down to the same reason.

We tentatively opened drawers and moved around the attic searching. It didn't take long as there wasn't really a lot up there but I kept being drawn back to an old desk that we had searched first. I don't remember it clearly, I just knew that it had belonged to my Grandfather, but it felt more familiar than that somehow. I tugged at Claude's hand and pointed to it; he nodded and helped me move it away from the wall a little. That was something that was very hard to keep quiet doing but, somehow, we managed not to create too much of a disturbance. I kept monitoring the brains downstairs, listening for any signs that they were getting suspicious. It was tiring, keeping so much focus while trying to do other things. Multi-tasking in that capacity wasn't something I had ever enjoyed doing.

I crawled under the desk, feeling the wood with my hands and gasping as I noticed something not quite right. I couldn't really see properly but there were hinges, or what felt like hinges at the back of the space someone's knees would fit. I kept rubbing at the area, noting the grooves where there was obviously a door of some kind. I pressed and pushed, trying to find a hole for a key, just as I was about to give up and let Claude have a turn, I pressed on a panel of wood and there was a rusty click.

My heart leaped but as I was about to lift the door and feel around for hidden treasure, Claude pulled me out of the way. I bumped my head on the underside of the desk and bit my lip to stop for yelping. I was still rubbing the sore spot when Claude came out from under the desk and held up an envelope that had held a dress pattern, once upon a time, and a small pouch with a drawstring. He threw the dress pattern at me and gazed at the little bag with wonder.

I set my jaw and stood up, grabbing the little pouch from him. "My house, my things."

It was rude, but then Claude had been rude shoving me out of the way so he could get at something my Gran had left for a Stackhouse. He glared at me and took a step toward me. For the first time, I was scared of him.

"We need to get back to base."

He lunged and I stepped back, something was up and I didn't like it at all. I could see he was about to make a grab for me again but before he could another two people appeared in the attic.

"Touch her and you die Fairy!"

It was Eric and ... the other Claude. Eric rushed the Claude I was scared of while the other Claude came to me and took me in his arms. There had been a big mistake – _this_ was my Claude. The other Claude, who was trying to get out of Eric's grip, was the Claude from _this_ world. I had been duped.

By my kin.

On purpose.

I gently removed myself from Claude's arms and held up the little pouch.

"I've got it, I found the way home!"

My Claude was confused and in our wonder at what the small bag might contain, we missed the other Claude getting away from Eric and coming towards us. The bag was snatched out of my hand and, before I could say anything, the other Claude had emptied it into his hand.

"I wish the portals were unguarded and the humans would forget their existence!"

There was the sound of thunder, then the floor of the attic came up to meet me as I passed out.

~v~

When I woke up, my head was pounding. I opened my eyes and the light for the attic was still on. Someone groaned to my left and my Claude sat up. I looked over to where the other Claude had been. He was sitting, staring at the trinket in his hand. Until Eric regained consciousness, then the trinket was on the floor and the other Claude was up against a wall with an angry vampire's hand around his throat.

"Eric!" I wanted to say 'stop' or 'don't hurt him' but the words just wouldn't come. "Let's find out if his wish worked."

I couldn't sense anyone else in the area at all. We opened the hatch and climbed down the steps. My house looked just like my house. Some things were a little different, but it was still recognisable as where Gran had raised me. There were no soldiers in the building at all and when we got outside, there was no iron fence either. We walked back to the woods and checked out where the portal was - there was not a soul around.

Claude, my Claude, raised his hands and got the look of concentration on his face. I put a hand out to stop him. "Not right now, they used us to find that hoodoo trinket – I think we deserve something in return."

I looked to the other Claude and pointed at him, wearing what I hoped was a stern expression. "We're going back to your base and you're going to do us some favours seeing as we solved your little transportation problem."

The other Claude smirked but it was soon wiped off his face by Eric wrapping his arms around him. "If we end up anywhere else, I _will_ eat you."

The dilation of Eric's pupils and the fact he was salivating when he said it must have scared the bejesus out of the other Claude. When my Claude popped us back to the resistance base, Eric was being restrained by Niall and Quinn and Claudine was pressing a rolled up t-shirt to the other Claude's neck.

I had minimal sympathy.

I also had the urge to march right over and sock my Great-Grandfather right in the chops. My mind was going a mile a minute thinking of how ready he was to use me to get what he wanted. No matter how I tried to convince myself that things were different in this world, I couldn't help but remember how powerful he said the Cluviel Dor was. It was entirely possible that Niall in my world was only favouring me because I held what he really wanted – power.

Once the drama of our return had settled, I laid out my terms. "We'll have that map of all the portals, a bag of foods and drinks and whatever you Fae folk can supply to make sure Claude regains his strength quicker when we jump universes."

"Impudent child!" The other Claude shouted but he was soon subdued by Claudine pressing very hard against his neck wound.

"What makes you think you deserve anything?"

I was shocked speechless. Fortunately, Claude wasn't.

"You held me prisoner and duped Sookie into leading you to the Cluviel Dor – a mission that could have ended in her death if they'd been caught!"

Quinn loosened his grip on Eric and looked at Niall. "Is this true? We just got Sookie back and you put her in harm's way?"

"I found a way for all of us to be free again!"

"That's not true!" I blurted out. "Claude only wished for the portals to be unguarded and humans forget their existence – he didn't do jack squat for the other Supes!"

Quinn let go of Eric completely and the other vampires and two-natured started surrounding the Fae members that were present. As suspected, they all popped quick as a wink, except Claudine. I went over to her, not that I could protect her if they decided to attack.

"Your cousin is safe, Sookie. She came to me and told me of their plans when I rose for the evening." Eric nodded to her.

"She also made sure I was strong enough to use my powers." Claude added.

The other Supes backed off and Claudine relaxed. "I'll stay and help you fight, it's what Sookie – the Sookie we all knew and loved – would have wanted."

Quinn came over and put a hand on my shoulder and the other on Claude's. "We'd sure appreciate you guys sticking around – we could use all the help we can get."

I looked at Eric and he smirked at me and quirked an eyebrow. "Ah ... I understand you guys wanting us around but we've got our own world, our own people, to get back to."

"And now we have extra help!" Claude went over and took the map of the USA with the portals marked on it down from the wall. "If you add in the fact there may well be another Cluviel Dor in another universe ... we've got more hope of finding our way home than we had before."

We smiled at each other and Claudine popped off to get some kind of elixir that Claude could carry with him to help him regain his strength quicker. Quinn donated a backpack, which we filled with goodies from the food store and a change of clothes each. We decided to get one more nights rest before making the jump the next day. Who knows when we might get another chance to sleep in a bed or have a hot shower?

I wasn't surprised when I had another pre-dawn visit. I had suspected that it had been Eric who had come to visit me the morning before and when I switched on the bedside lamp and saw him smirking at me from next to the bed it was confirmed. I opened my mouth to ask why he was there but quickly found any words muffled by his lips and tongue.

Don't get me wrong, kissing Eric in any universe is an experience. This Eric was itching to tap any old Sookie just for the sake of his own curiosity. But my Eric was waiting for the Sookie he fell in love with.

That thought made me a little more determined to get back to the world I belonged in.


	6. All at Sea

**Jumping the Void**

_A/N: It's been a long time – sorry. I just lost my mojo for a while. This is a pretty short update, just to let you know which kind of parallel Universe they end up in next._

_So a quick recap – Claude was angry he'd been locked out of Fae and tried to use magic to open the portal in the woods behind Sookie's house. Sookie was sucked into the portal along with Claude, where they ended up in a parallel universe where Vampires ruled the world. _

_With the help of Alcide (albeit grudgingly) and Mr. Cataliades, they found another portal. Once again, Claude used his magic and he and Sookie were sucked into a different parallel universe where the Government controlled all the portals and Supes were hunted._

_Our intrepid duo were aided in escaping from their fate in an Army run Terrorist facility by the Resistance – a group of Supes (many of whom Sookie and Claude know in their own universe). During their brief time with the Resistance, Sookie learned of the Cluviel Dor. A magic item that meant they could simply wish themselves back to their own universe._

Chapter 6 – All at Sea

Claude and I were both refreshed and ready for action the next day. After a hearty breakfast, the resistance bid us farewell and we popped to the nearest portal. Claudine came with us and was very perturbed by my tears as we said goodbye. Neither Claude nor I had the heart, or maybe the big brass ones, to tell her that she'd been killed in our universe. I held onto her for the longest hug I'd ever given before she popped away and left me and Claude to our travels.

This time when Claude trained his magic on the portal it was with a renewed hope and purpose. We had a way home – the Cluviel Dor. All we had to do was, somehow, end up in a universe where it existed and was in my possession. I closed my eyes and waited for the portal to mutate and suck me inside its swirling vortex. It didn't take long, and by this point I was quite the expert in judging how close I was to being spat out by the speed of the spinning.

But something was different this time. It felt like it was raining inside the portal. I opened my eyes long enough to see a circle of foaming white water and took a deep, deep breath. Sure enough, when we were thrown out of the portal we were under water. My backpack made things harder but I kicked and kicked, moving my arms wildly to try and get to the surface.

Claude, being a Fairy, was stronger than me on a usual day. But he had just spent himself with his magic. When my head breached the water I gasped, trying to get as much fresh air into my lungs as possible. I couldn't see Claude's head anywhere. The water was clear and the sky was bright, I took another breath and ducked back down to try and find my cousin.

He was fighting to get to the surface but just didn't have the strength to make it with the heavy bag strapped to him. I grabbed his arm, glad of the water's buoyancy, and pulled him back up with me. Once we had regulated our breathing, we took a good look around. I could see some rocks jutting out of the water and pointed to them. Claude nodded and we slowly swam over to them, it was a struggle to climb out of the water but we did it.

Panting, we lay in the sun. It was scorching and our clothes were already starting to dry in a matter of minutes. My skin prickled in a way it never did when I was usually tanning, I frowned when I noticed my arms turning a nasty shade of pink. This level of heat from the sun wasn't what I was used to. In fact, it was unbearable.

"We need to cover up." I told Claude as I opened my bag and pulled out a long sleeved shirt to cover my arms and a t-shirt to cover my head.

He nodded and copied my actions, taking the vial of Claudine's elixir from the side pocket of his bag and letting himself have a small sip. You could see the effect the potion had immediately, his skin glowed with a luminescence that the sun wouldn't give a person. He stored the vial back in his bag and took out the portal map.

"There are no portals under water on this map, I've never heard of a portal beneath the sea. I have no idea where we are."

"Yep." I extracted a bottle of Gatorade from my bag and drank some. "That seems to be a common theme whenever we jump."

"I feel strong. I can pop us ... but I have no idea which direction to pop _in_."

"We need to find shelter before we fry like a fat man's breakfast." I sighed and stood up, trying to see as far as I could, but the heat just created a haze on the horizon.

There were some more rocks and lots of sea; I thought I could see treetops in the distance, which was odd. We agreed the best course of action was to head for the trees, so we popped from rock to rock, trying to get a closer look at the landscape beyond the expanse of water. The heat from the sun was weakening us both, even with the refreshments we had. Claude was exhausted and I could barely stand up straight. My head was starting to pound and my stomach rolled. I could hear ringing in my ears and shook my head, trying to clear the way for straight thinking.

"Sookie, can you hear bells?"

"Oh thank the Lord! I thought my brain was melting!" I managed to huff out a slightly amused sounding sigh.

"Where are they coming from?"

I scanned the horizon and noted a grey area over to our left. I pointed to it and Claude nodded. It could have been a boat; it could have been a giant man-eating shark. Maybe the bells were signifying it was dinner time. I panicked, for the briefest moment imagining that we'd wound up in a universe where sharks were at the top of the food chain. The sound of an engine in the distance squashed those thoughts for a little while and then I started wondering how easily a giant man-eating shark could learn how to drive a speedboat. The heat was making me delirious.

Claude and I huddled on the rock, waiting for our fate. Our track record for the first person to find us being friendly was sitting at zero out of two. There were a couple of things in our favour. The first was that it was daytime, so it wouldn't be a hungry Vampire looking for a tasty Fae snack. The second was that, whoever was coming wasn't coming in a helicopter – so that reduced the chance of armed forces involvement. My vision was getting blurry from the intensity of the sunshine, so when the boat eventually got close to us – I could barely make the face of the man piloting it.

"How in the heck did ya get all the way out here? You kids are damn lucky I keep an eye on these waters!"

My brain struggled to come up with something adequate to say. I blinked as he moved to the stern of the boat and threw a red and white life saver toward us.

"We got lost."

"Sure as shit you did." I heard him suck a breath through his teeth. "Well, are ya gonna grab on ta that or what?"

Claude and I both eased ourselves back into the water and grabbed the life saver as the boatman pulled us toward him. Once we were in the shade, I noticed that the whole boat was covered and the windows of the bridge were tinted like a pair of sunglasses. The relief of being under the black canopy and feeling the breeze as the boat moved through the water was small but welcome. I slumped against the side of the cabin, sipping at my drink carefully and waiting for my vision and head to clear. A wave of dizziness came over me and then it felt like I was in a deep, deep sleep.

~v~

I was in a dimly lit room when I woke up, my head felt cooler than the rest of my body and when I reached up to touch it, I discovered a cold, wet cloth on my forehead. I removed it and looked around, immediately noticing Claude lying next to me with a cloth on his head. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I could see that it was still day time but that the windows were covered with black fabric. The only thing I could think of was that we'd both suffered heat stroke, unless the sea water was poisoned somehow and I ingested some of it. Claude moaned and winced in his unconscious state.

"Need to get the Vampires away from the portal."

He muttered and I clamped my hand over his mouth. We had no idea if the man who had taken us on his boat was friend or foe, or Supe or human. My head still really hurt, so I was aware of other minds in the vicinity, but couldn't concentrate to get a clear reading on anyone or even get a clear idea of how many there were and I didn't have the energy to tune them out or lower the volume on the static.

I stood up and swayed on my feet before having to find something to empty my stomach contents into. Fortunately there was a waste paper bucket not too far away from the bed. Someone must have heard the retching and I heard a door open and close as I hugged the bucket to my chest.

"Yeah, you two got it pretty bad. It ain't good to be outside for any length of time. Makes me wonder where you're from, that you wouldn't know that already."

I looked up at him, it was the same man who pulled us on to the boat – I could tell from his voice. "Where are we?"

"Dade lookout post. Where are you from?"

"It's complicated."

"Uh-huh." I felt the mattress sink as he sat next to me. "Y'know, people say things are complicated when they want to keep secrets. Now, you can try to keep the fact you ended up in the middle of the ocean but weren't there long enough to die of sun exposure a secret as much as you like. But it's a mystery to me, and mysteries bug the shit out of me. I keep plugging until I solve it."

He stood up and left the room again, leaving me even more confused about the world we'd jumped into than I was before. I looked around for our bags and, sure enough, they were at the bottom of the bed. The portal map was haphazardly folded and stuffed into Claude's bag so I took it out and tried to smooth out the creases. No matter how many times I checked and double checked - there weren't any portals under water.

Because creating a portal at the bottom of the ocean would be completely stupid.

I remembered the first universe we jumped in to. Mr Cataliades said we'd created a portal where there wasn't one before. That meant there was a big chance that the portals would be in different places in different universes. I held in a scream of frustration and tossed the map back on top of the bags. It hurt to think too much, and that was something I wasn't used to, not being able to think was dangerous. But going back to sleep in a strange place, with a man who seemed determined to figure out what our secrets were, was pretty dangerous too. I laid back down and put the cloth back on my head, it felt heavenly. I decided that the boatman hadn't killed us while we were both passed out before, so there was no reason to think he would do it now.

~v~

The next time I woke up I was still very woozy, but Claude was also awake and poring over the map that had frustrated me earlier. When I moved around, I felt nauseous, but there wasn't anything left in my stomach to throw up. This made vomiting even more traumatic than it should have been. I felt Claude tapping me on the shoulder and looked at him. He handed me the vial that Claudine had given him.

"A tiny sip will have you back on your feet."

I nodded and held the small bottle to my lips. When the potion dripped on to my tongue, it tingled pleasantly. The same tingling spread through my body as I swallowed. Seconds later, I felt refreshed, revitalised and, thankfully, headache free. In fact, my head felt clearer than it ever had. I tucked that information away and wondered if Claude knew how to make the same potion. I thanked him and handed the elixir back.

"Have you managed to make head or tail of the map yet?"

He shook his head. "No, none of it makes sense."

I lowered my voice and moved closer to him. "The man who picked us up with his boat, he said we were at Dade lookout post."

Our conversation was cut short by the door opening again. I could see who it was clearly this time. He looked middle aged, rugged, with weathered skin and thinning mousy brown hair.

"Well, you two look much better." He narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"I didn't get a chance to thank you earlier for rescuing us. We would have died out there if you hadn't come for us." I nudged Claude.

"Yes, we're very lucky you came when you did. Thank you."

It turned out; these weren't the right kind of things to say to him.

"Okay, I've had about enough of all the questions you two make pop into my brain. I want to know who you are, where you're from and how the hell you two both recovered from grade 3 sunstroke in a single afternoon."

Claude and I looked at each other. Even though I couldn't hear Claude's thoughts, I knew he was thinking exactly the same thing as I was.

_How are we going to get out of this situation?_


	7. Oceans Away

**Jumping the Void**

_A/N: I know – a lot of you were thinking 'Global Warming' and 'time travel' but I'm sticking to my resolve that Sookie and Claude will __**not**__ be travelling to different eras in history or their future. It's 2007 – wherever they go. But, of course, this just means I need to be a little more creative when it comes to explaining how the universes are so different. Sometimes it'll work, sometimes it'll just be plain, crazy artistic license ... this chapter is the latter of those._

Chapter 7 – Oceans Away

The boatman stood with his hands on his hips, scowling at us. Claude gripped my bicep and looked into my eyes.

"Sookie, What would Eric do?"

I gaped at him. Eric would probably kill him – the man was curious and forthright but he didn't deserve to die for those things.

"No. I won't hurt someone just because they asked me a question!"

Claude rolled his eyes and, quick as a wink, had the boatman pinned face-down on the floor. "Get something we can tie him up with ... and gag him."

Okay, restraining someone so we could escape was something I was significantly more comfortable with than cold blooded murder. I grabbed a pair of socks out of my backpack and gave them to Claude to stuff in the boatman's mouth. Finding something to tie his hands and feet together was more of a challenge. With some effort, I managed to tear the seams on the pillowcases and we used them to hogtie him. Claude nodded to me and we ran out of the door.

It was a surprise to find out we were in an office block of some description. A corridor with doors either side greeted us on our exit from our recovery room. I pointed to the sign that directed us to the stairs and we ran for it. No-one was there to stop us as we burst through the entrance to the stairwell and thundered down the steps – only to be met by a solid brick wall after one flight.

"Fuck! Up, go back up!"

Claude wasn't usually one for cursing; I nodded and started sprinting back up. When we got to the floor we'd just escaped from, a woman stopped and smiled at us.

"Hey! You two made a quick recovery!"

Behind her, at the end of the corridor, I noticed a set of doors. We pushed past her and headed for them. Beyond the doors, I froze. We were on a pier, surrounded by water, and the building we had just come out of was jutting out of the ocean.

"Where the hell are we?" I gasped.

"I told you before – Dade lookout post." The boatman spoke from behind us.

When I spun around, he was rubbing his wrists and the woman we had pushed past was standing next to him. Both of them looked mad enough to spit.

"Johnny is out with the boat to get supplies – so unless you wanna swim 200 miles to the Tampa network or maybe, if you'd prefer, you can swim 700 miles to the mainland – you're stuck with us."

I looked out at the water; I could see spires and the tops of some other buildings sticking out of the water. Were these the trees that we had been heading for earlier?

"Are we in Dade County, Florida?"

I stared wide eyed at the boatmen as he looked at me like he couldn't believe I had to actually ask that.

"Honey, Florida ain't been Florida since before I was born!" He stood back from the door and motioned for us to go back inside. "Where in the hell are you from?"

~v~

The boatman led us through the corridors and into a large kitchen and dining area. There were a few people sitting, eating or relaxing and reading. We were led to a table with four chairs and the boatman gestured for us to sit down before waving to a scrawny man in a white apron. Bowls of what smelled like chowder were put in front of us and I took a tiny, experimental, taste with my spoon. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. I guessed with the extra ocean that seemed to be around, people in this universe ate a lot of fish and seafood.

With having more people in closer proximity to me, my head was back to its usual state of having to work at keeping their thoughts out. But it was manageable and I was even up to making polite conversation.

"We ... ah ... haven't really had the chance for proper introductions. I'm Sookie and this is Claude."

The boatman nodded. "My name is Andy, Andy McVicar. I'm the manager of the lookout post."

"Hi, I'm Cherie Bowman – team leader." Cherie stretched a hand across the table to shake ours.

Claude pushed the half-eaten bowl of fishy stew away and rested his elbows on the table. "I understand you have a lot of questions but I was wondering if there was a calendar we could have a look at."

I noticed Claude had specifically avoided asking what year it was – that would raise even more suspicion. Andy still looked at him strangely before asking Cherie to go and grab the calendar from his office. He stopped her as she got up from the table by placing his hand on top of hers.

"Actually, scratch that. We'll all go up and Claude can look at the calendar in there. I have a feeling this 'Q and A' session could use more privacy."

Both Claude and I expected to be escorted to Andy's office right after that comment. But, instead, we were left sitting at the table as Andy finished his coffee. It was unnerving, and Andy knew it from the way he was smirking over the top of his cup at us. Finally, I guess my fidgeting became too annoying for him and he got up and told us to follow him. Andy walked in front and Cherie brought up the rear until we got to another door that looked pretty much the same as all the others.

When Andy opened the door, it didn't look like an office at all. It was a control centre, if anything, it reminded me of those movies where they have a space shuttle launch – lots of screens and blinking lights that I could never hope to understand. Another man had jumped in his chair and quickly removed his feet from one of the consoles as we entered. Andy tapped at a few of the buttons and walked around the screens, stopping every now and again to bend forward for a closer look at some of them. I felt Cherie give me a little nudge from behind to get my attention and she pointed to a big table with 6 chairs over in the corner.

"Saul, could you give us a minute in here." Andy called out while scribbling on a clipboard.

The other man nodded and rushed out, giving us a glance and a nod as he went past. Claude and I settled at the big table as Cherie and Andy muttered quietly to each other at one of the screens. I noticed a calendar on the wall behind Claude and quietly got out of my chair to see what date it was.

"May 2007. No time travelling this jump." I whispered to Claude.

His raised eyebrow made it obvious he was asking himself the same question I was – Why was Florida under water in this universe and, if Florida was underwater, where did that leave Bon Temps? Andy and Cherie joined us at the table a moment later; Andy nodded toward the calendar and looked at Claude.

"Find what you were lookin' for?"

"Yes, thank you." Claude smiled tightly.

"So ... I think we can safely say that you kids don't have much of a choice here." Andy leaned back in his chair and linked his fingers behind his head. "As I mentioned before, it's my job to watch these waters – that means I need to keep an eye out for suspicious folks and stop them from getting anywhere near American soil. You two are probably the most suspicious folks I've come across on my twenty years on this rig."

I bit my lip nervously; there really wasn't any denying that the circumstances that Andy found us in were anything other than suspicious. Claude, however, was attempting to stare Andy down. This was new and probably due to that elixir Claudine gave him.

"Mr McVicar, while I understand your ... unease at where and how you came across Sookie and I, the American people have nothing to fear from us."

"That's completely true – I'm all American myself!"

I smiled while I said it. I was a proud American! But my statement didn't seem to have the endearing effect I had hoped it would. Claude rolled his eyes at me and rubbed his face with his hands and Andy and Cherie looked at me like I was crazy.

"Uh huh, that's exactly what a Nazi Terrorist _would_ say! You think we don't know about your gizmos and intensive training programs? You think you're the first ones we've come across?"

"I'm _not_ a Nazi!" I stood up so quick my chair scooted back a little.

"Sookie, please be quiet and let me handle this."

I glared at Claude but sat down to see how well his idea of handling things would work out for us. He turned back to Andy and laid his hands, palm down, flat on the table. Andy smirked at him, in his mind I could read that he was sure Claude would recite the same, tired, speeches that he'd heard from the other Nazi terrorists they'd captured. He was thinking that this new tactic of having the spies get sick from sun exposure and wind up being taken to the rig was interesting but still wouldn't work.

My mind was working overtime trying to piece together things from Andy and Cherie's brains. There was so much information spinning around, I couldn't make head or tails of it. Nazis, boats, planes, guns ... this universe we'd jumped into was like an amped up World War Two movie. I was shaken out of my attempt to concentrate by Claude's voice.

"How much do you know about the Supernatural, Mr McVicar?"

_That_ caught them by surprise. To be honest, it caught me by surprise too. I was just better at hiding it.

"What – you mean ghosts and ghouls? I don't believe in any of that crap."

"No, I mean Vampires, Werewolves, demons and Fairies – the kind of things that exist where we come from."

Andy and Cherie both sat silent for a few seconds before Andy started laughing like a loon. I let my head fall to the table, it smarted just enough to let me know that I wasn't asleep and having some cringe worthy anxiety dream. It took a few minutes for our ... well, I wasn't sure if 'hosts' or 'captors' would be the best term for Andy and Cherie – but it took them a while to calm down. Claude's hands had bunched into fists, but were still resting on the tabletop.

"My, my." Andy was still shaking his head and smiling. "That's a good one. So, you two come from some magical place where Vampires and such fly around?"

I wanted to set him straight that not _all_ Vampires can fly, but I kept my mouth shut.

"A different world, yes - a world we'd like to get back to."

Claude closed his eyes and popped to the other side of the room. Andy and Cherie jumped out of their chairs and I had a brief moment of panic as Andy pulled a gun out that had been taped under the table.

"Don't shoot him!"

Andy looked at me with bewildered eyes. "What the fuck are you two?"

Claude popped back into his seat and calmly laid his hands back on the table. "Are you ready to believe yet?"

"I'm ready." Cherie gasped out. She was nodding but you could see the fear in her eyes and her terrified thoughts swamped my consciousness.

"We don't want to hurt you, Cherie; we just want to get back home." I lay a, hopefully, comforting hand on top of hers.

"I want you _freaks_ off my rig ASAP." Andy kept his gun trained on Claude, his hand was shaking badly. "As soon as Johnny comes back and the boat is fuelled, we're taking a little trip to somewhere you won't put my staff in danger."

~v~

We were led, at gunpoint, back to the room we woke up in. Andy left us there with the statement that he'd come and get us as soon as it was time to leave. He had been thinking that he had a good mind to just dump us back in the ocean, but he was worried that we had other powers that might put the whole rig at risk if he incurred our wrath. I desperately wanted to tell him that I didn't have any powers and that we had no reason to put him or his in any danger. But he wasn't in the right frame of mind to hear any of that. Cherie hung back; Andy had instructed her to _watch_ us.

As soon as the door was closed, I had the map back out. I didn't really care that Cherie was watching us as we pored over it, trying to work out which parts would be under water and which parts wouldn't. Both she and Andy wanted us off the rig and out of their hair so they could forget ever meeting us.

"If Florida is under water, it's safe to say Louisiana will be too. Our only option is to get to a portal and jump – there's no point looking for the Cluviel Dor if my house is an aquarium decoration."

Claude nodded. "Agreed, looking at these portal locations has given me an idea. In the first jump, the Fae were extinct for centuries – so no new portals would have been created in the time between Dracula taking over and us appearing."

"So the Bon Temps portal is ... new?"

"It's maybe three hundred years old. But no portals have been created in the last hundred years."

"Okay, so ... what does that mean?"

"It means that as long as changes in this universe happened in the last century, the portals should be in the same place."

I turned to look at Cherie; she was leaning against the door with her mouth open, desperately trying to comprehend what Claude and I were jabbering on about.

"Cherie, I know you're scared. But could you tell us how the world happened to be ... flooded?"

She blinked and frowned before standing up straight. "You really don't know?"

Claude and I shook our heads.

"Truman had a failsafe. Back in 1944, when the Nazis won the Battle of the Bulge, Truman sent out the evacuation notices. Everyone who could was piled onto boats, planes or drove as fast as they could to high ground. They dropped experimental Atomic bombs on Antarctica, to melt the ice and flood out Europe."

"If Europe was flooded at the end of World War Two, then why did you think we were Nazis?" Claude stood only a couple of feet away from her with his arms folded.

"They knew we were evacuating and they did the same – there was a huge aerial battle as the traitor Brits and Russians tried to stop the failsafe from going ahead. They all went to high ground and ever since then they've been trying to get revenge on the US." Cherie spat out the last part, like all those millions of people who lost their homes, towns, cities ... _lives_, didn't have the right to revenge.

"And you're _surprised_ that the world is pissed off with America?" Claude's eyes were wide with incredulity. "Truman basically kills the planet and your government is still concerned with terrorism?"

I really wasn't interested in a political debate; we had more pressing matters to attend to. "Claude, now we know it happened less than a century ago. So this map still works, right? All the portals on this are where we'll find them here?"

Claude nodded, not taking his eyes off Cherie. I felt bad for her; she was the product of decades of propaganda. The USA had cut itself off from the world and everyone not American was its enemy. I didn't know much about the environment, but I knew enough that all that ice on Antarctica was there for a good reason. Fairies and nature go hand in hand, I understood how pissed Claude was that a huge part of the planet's eco-system had been destroyed in a fit of 'if we can't have it no-one can' by one President.

Day turned to dusk and the uneasy atmosphere was giving me a headache. Our bags had been unpacked, soaked and dried food thrown away, repacked and sat by the door for over an hour when Andy came back for us. Without words or prompting, we followed him to the pier and climbed into the boat.

"We'll be travelling through the night. When I get tired, Cherie will take over. Hopefully we'll get to the mainland before the sun really gets going. We've got somewhere to hole up – but you guys will need to find your own accommodations. I want you out of my sight as soon as we dock – clear?"

Claude nodded and I mumbled out a muted 'yessir' before the engine started up and we were off. I spent the long hours on that boat wondering what kind of America we'd be landing on. Would we be able to find somewhere to 'hole up' so we didn't end up with sunstroke again? Would there be Vampires on the mainland or had they all been wiped out when the sea levels rose? What about the Weres? So many questions that I couldn't find peace when my eyes drifted closed. My dreams were fitful, blazing sunshine and burning skin was involved with all of them.

~v~

The sun was turning the buildings beyond the dock a fierce shade of red when we landed. I had no idea where we were until we got off the boat and passed a sign bidding us a nice stay in Thomasville. Andy and Cherie flagged down a cab and gave Claude and I one last look before heading off into their denial. I looked at my cousin and shrugged.

"So what do we do now?" I asked him.

He pointed to a desk with a withered old man behind it. "We ask for directions to somewhere we can stay until sundown."

"And exactly how are we going to pay for this place to stay? Neither of us has any money!" I hissed, getting more worked up with each second the gravity of the situation weighed on me. "We don't even know if they _use_ money here!"

Claude looked around the small building that served as the port and shrugged. "Maybe we can just stay here?"

Sure, there were a couple of chairs but no food or drink. I shook my head. "We need to find somewhere to get something to eat, somewhere to rest."

"Sounds like you kids need a miracle!"

We both turned to where the woman's voice had come from and my chin dropped in shock.

"Gran?"


	8. Old Faces, New Lives

**Jumping the Void**

_A/N: I have no idea if Joseph Mengeles actually conducted genetic experiments for Hitler, but 'The Boys from Brazil' has always been a favourite movie of mine ..._

_Previously on JtV – Sookie and Claude have jumped into a universe where the ice-caps were forcibly melted and sea levels have risen. The USA is terrified of Nazi terrorists – which, at first, Sookie and Claude are considered as by Rig manager Andy. But after discovering that Claude was something beyond their understanding – Andy takes them to the mainland and dumps them with no money, no friends and no way of getting shelter from the blistering heat of the day._

_Then Sookie saw her Gran ..._

Chapter 8 – Old faces, new lives

Gran looked at me the way she did the first time I'd mistakenly spoken out loud what someone had thought to themselves.

"I'm sorry, dearie; I think you have me mistaken for someone else."

Claude tugged my arm and pulled me to his side. "We're sorry, she caught a little of the sun yesterday and hasn't quite recovered yet."

I just nodded lamely while scrutinising every wrinkle, every pore and every wisp of hair that had fallen out of the bun at the back of her head and drifted to frame her face under her the long scarf she had wrapped over her head and around her neck. I definitely couldn't remember her looking this old. She was wondering why she hadn't seen us around these parts before. She was also thinking we both looked like we could use a good meal.

"I see." Gran continued to look at us oddly. "Are you waiting for someone?"

Thinking quicker than I considered myself able to, I answered her. "No ma'am, we just got dropped off from the Tampa Network. We don't know anyone here and we don't know where we're going ... we're lost, pretty much."

Claude nudged me and hissed in my ear. "You're taking a very big gamble, cousin."

I shushed him and smiled back at Gran; she was nodding and thinking about lost souls. I felt a little bad that I was hoping that Gran in this universe would still have the desire to help people as she did in my universe. A car horn sounded outside the building and Gran came closer to us.

"Well, my ride is here." She unwound the scarf from her head and neck to reveal a reverend's dog collar. "Are you kids willing to put your trust in God?"

We both nodded without hesitation and picked up our bags. She walked in front of us, leading us to a station wagon with blacked out windows and opened the trunk for us to put our bags inside. The sun was barely up and I could feel the discomfort of it against my skin. I had a vague thought that this Universe had turned everyone into Vampires – where daylight was concerned anyway. Me and Claude piled into the back of the station wagon as Gran got in the passenger side. Our driver was a weather-beaten old man with an easy smile and a curious eye.

"Well hello!" He greeted us happily before nodding to Gran. "I see you've been picking up more strays. Adele, honey, if our flock gets any bigger we'll need a tunnelling machine!"

Before we had the chance to question what he meant, the car jerked into motion and sped down the dusty roads. The windows were tinted so dark it would be impossible to drive at night but I figured those kind of questions could wait a while. As we bounced over the bumps in the road, Gran turned back to look at me and Claude.

"How rude of me, I didn't even introduce myself! I'm Reverend Adele Mackie and this is my husband, John."

"I'm Sookie Stackhouse, thank you so much for offering to help us out." I smiled and gave Claude a soft kick with my foot.

"And I'm Claude Crane. We really appreciate your assistance."

I shrugged mentally, it was better than Claude could usually bring himself to say, but nowhere near as thoughtful as he'd been at other points in our 'Bogus Journey'. Bill and Ted we weren't, although a guide like Rufus as we hopped around parallel universes would have been great! We sat quietly as Adele talked about her trip to Dothan and how much they were charging for supplies. If anything it confirmed that they still used money to buy things in this universe, even better was that they still used dollars. Not that either me or Claude had any of those. We hadn't been driving long when the landscape took on a different appearance. The ground looked dry as a bone and there were small buildings amongst piles of rubble. It reminded me of when the news would show footage of Beirut or Iraq. Dust and destruction as far as the eye could see.

John passed a large, hand painted sign that stated we should travel straight ahead for The Church of the Cherished Lord. Not five minutes after that, we were pulling into a large carport – or a small hanger. I guess it depended on your point of view. It was open at either end but there were a few other cars parked there and the shade that it offered was very welcome. When we got out of the car, I knew Claude was doing the same thing I was – looking around for the church we'd been heading for. All I could see on the side I was looking at was the few cars and some scripture that had been artfully painted around the walls of the parking area.

Claude tapped my shoulder and I turned around to look in the same direction he was, immediately noticing the two large crosses with a hatch between them. Sure enough, John and Adele wandered over and John threw open the hatch. Bags in arms, Adele smiled at us and jerked her head in the direction she was walking.

"What are you waiting for? God welcomes everyone in his house – you don't need an invitation."

Claude raised an eyebrow at me and I frowned at him. He might not be a Christian but I certainly was, even if sometimes I wasn't a very good one. I smiled at Adele; it was so hard not to think of her as Gran. "Thank you for giving us somewhere to shelter from the day, we'll be out of your hair when the sun goes down."

She pursed her lips and scowled. "They keep you in the dark in more ways than one out on the Tampa Network. Let's get you inside and some food in your bellies and I'll explain why it's dangerous to go out at night."

"Um ... okay. Some food sounds great right now."

We followed Adele and John down the stairs and through cinderblock tunnels with other corridors shooting off to the left and right. It was a labyrinth of grey concrete splashed with posters that I never got to have the chance of really looking at. We turned left and right, my eyes desperately searching for signs telling us where we were going or where we had been. I noticed that a lot of the doors had little plaques on them - that would come in useful if we were walking at a speed that let me pause to read them.

John opened a door and stood back smiling at us. "You can toss your bags in the dorm here, they'll be safe and there's a shower room through the blue door. When you're all ready just come back out here and through the door at the end of this corridor – we'll have some scran ready for you."

"Scran?" I blinked and looked at Claude, who was just as confused as me, before looking to Adele.

"He means food. John, here, thinks it's hilarious to throw some of his Grandaddy's Scottish words around to confuse folks." She bumped her hip against his and jerked her head toward the direction John had just told us to go. "Come on Joker, you can wear your new 'Bless the cook' apron."

I stood there, watching them walk away. Gran wasn't Gran, but she was alive and seemed happy as a clam. She was a woman of the cloth with a humorous husband and a purpose in life. Claude called my name as my eyes misted over; I blinked away my emotions and turned to see him walking, naked, into the shower room. Sighing, I went over and put my bag on one of the cots and decided to lie down until he was finished. I must have drifted off to sleep; Claude was shaking me to let me know the shower room was free. Nodding, I pulled a change of clothes out of my backpack. The t-shirt and shorts felt rough after being soaked in seawater and then dried, but they were cleaner than what I had on. I decided to take the clothes I was wearing into the shower with me and rinse them through with some clean water.

We entered a large kitchen area with a huge dining table twenty minutes later. John smiled and waved to us from the stove and Adele looked up from the conversation she was in the middle of with a small girl on her lap.

"Well, hello! Louise, say hello to our visitors – Sookie and Claude."

"Hi." Louise said quickly before burying her face in Adele's shoulder.

"Can you go and spend some time with your Momma, Louise? I need to talk to Sookie and Claude about grown up things."

Louise nodded and leapt off Adele's lap, running past us through the door. Adele was smiling and looking in the direction the little girl went in as we sat down at the table. Not knowing what else to say, I decided that our surroundings would make a good ice-breaker.

"This is an interesting church. All these tunnels and rooms and I haven't even seen the pulpit yet!"

Adele nodded. "Oh it started as a basic church, way back when I was a little girl. My Daddy set up here after the evac - in the little town we passed through. When the bombs got dropped, the world went through so many changes and so many people were praying. People who were strangers at first but once Daddy led them in prayer a few times they looked to him as their religious guide. When the heat got too much and they found a big basement, they converted it into a church."

I nodded blew out a breath. "And when it got hotter, the basement got bigger."

"That's right. We shelter a lot of people here, get government funding for it too. We bring in folks passing through, folks who want to join the commune and folks with nowhere else to go – like you."

"You mentioned something about it being dangerous to go out at night." Claude leaned forward and put his elbows on the table. I winced, because it was always one of Gran's pet hates. Sure enough, she cleared her throat and stared at him until he got the hint and moved them.

"Out on the rigs, they don't care what happens on the mainland as long as we can supply them with food." She got up and plucked a couple of posters off the wall and put them in front of us. "This is what the government wants you to believe."

I frowned a little as I picked one up. Bright, blood red letters proclaimed that we should protect ourselves against Mengeles' Monstrosities and urged people to report all sightings of possible Nazi Genetic experiments to the authorities. Glancing over at the poster Claude was looking at, I saw much the same theme – Nazi terrorists in the good ol' US of A. Nazi terrorists who were pasty white with fangs.

Taking a deep breath, I put the poster on the table and turned to Adele. "So this is what the government wants us to believe – but what's the truth?"

"Smart girl." She smiled. "People go missing at night here on the mainland. Sometimes bodies get washed up with holes in various parts of their bodies – and not bullet holes. Then there was the time that my Dad went missing and turned up twenty years later, still looking like the forty year old that went out that door – except with fangs and the desire to drink people's blood."

Claude and I just looked at each other. Adele leaned back in her chair and regarded us carefully before speaking again.

"That's not the reaction of people who aren't aware of the fact that Vampires exist. So, from that, I can deduce that you're also aware of how to protect yourself against them. It also proves that you're lying to me about where you're from. I've sheltered a lot of kids who grew up on the Tampa Network and decided come to the mainland to experience new things – their reaction was completely different to yours."

I sighed and slumped in my chair, Claude nudged me. "It's your turn to explain, Cousin."

His blasé attitude about how many times we'd had to repeat our story made me laugh. It was highly inappropriate for me to laugh like that right at that moment, but I just couldn't help myself. When I was calm, I started our tale and managed to finish it just as a small boy came into the kitchen to ask why the lunch bell hadn't been rung yet.

The room filled with people as soon as John had pressed a button on the wall to signify that the food was ready. Claude and I were met with curious glances and timid smiles by most and bright, friendly 'hellos' by others. I was surprised that a plate of beef casserole was put in front of me, and after we'd held hands and said grace, I dug in heartily. The meat tasted salty but it was better than the chowder we got at the rig. I'd have to ask where they kept animals in this world – there was no way they'd survive out in the open fields.

After we'd all finished eating; John and Adele introduced us to everyone at the table. There were transient people, like me and Claude, and some were regulars to the church who stayed every time they passed through Thomasville. I was more interested in the amount of people that were family though. My greetings got stuck in my throat as Adele pointed out the four children she and John had had and then the six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren they'd been blessed with. Seeing the love and pride shining in her eyes made my crazy smile reappear. It took the world being ruined for my Gran to get the family she always dreamed of having.

The room emptied in a haze of handshakes and kisses on the cheeks. Adele asked us to go and get the map we'd been using so she could help us out; John said he'd get everything ready for us. I wasn't sure what John would need to be getting ready, but I was neither in the position or emotional state to ask questions. I went back to the dorm with Claude and locked myself in the bathroom for a few minutes to decompress a little. By 'decompress' I mean 'sob like little girl'. I splashed water on my face and calmed myself down before coming back out.

My nostrils were assaulted by the smell of garlic and onions coming from the kitchen and by the time we got to the table, both Claude and my eyes were watering freely. At least it covered up my little pity session. The map was spread out on the table and Adele marvelled at it, it had been a long time since she'd seen a map of America like that. There was a portal about a hundred miles north of where the Church was, but it was off the beaten path when we compared our map to one from this universe.

The general plan was that we'd rest up and try to nap before an early dinner, get some more food inside us and then John would drive us as far as he could in their 'night time' car. The portal looked to be maybe ten miles away from the main road but we had no idea if the terrain would allow for John to drive us any closer. I was perfectly fine with this plan - excited, even, but I was very interested in what these people did to avoid Vampire attacks.

I found out how they did that a few hours later. I closed my eyes and tried to pretend I was in a spa, having a mud bath or something, but the smell was too much. Claude looked a little green around the gills at the other end of the big tin bath that was sitting in the kitchen.

"You should stay in here for at least twenty minutes." Adele spoke as she rubbed sage leaves between her hands and then dipped them in the water.

I felt like a leg of lamb. "And has this worked, before?"

John nodded. "Oh yeah, I take an anti-vamp bath before going out after dark all the time. There have been a couple of incidents where I've see things following me but I've never been attacked."

I looked at Claude and wondered if this 'anti-vamp bath' would even disguise his fairy scent – if it could then it would be worth keeping in mind. By the time we'd finished marinating and gotten our things together, complete with some bottles of sweet tea and some cured sausages that Adele gave to us, we went back up to the surface. The carport was unlit and I could barely see anything until John switched on a flashlight. The heat of the day hadn't quite dissipated yet and the air was suffocating. The cover was pulled off of a large vehicle, revealing it to be a big silver truck.

"It's silver in more ways than one." John looked very serious. "The paint job was infused with silver powder, silver plated handles and silver plated bull-bars."

Claude smiled and I nodded. When we opened the doors a strange smell wafted out, but I guessed it was probably the stale smell of previous occupants after their special baths. John started the engine; it sounded very powerful, and turned on the headlamps.

"Headlights have been modified to use UV bulbs – we don't know if it does them any harm but they seem to get dazzled by them. Whatever slows 'em down, right?"

We pulled out of the carport and into the night. The roads were dead and John was going at a fair speed. He explained that there wasn't a police presence in smaller towns and communes; they were pretty much left to their own justice because there wasn't anywhere for criminals to hide. The speedometer climbed - seventy, eighty, ninety ... one hundred and forty. My knuckles were white from clinging to the sides of the seat. It was clear that John had driven this road many, many times. He knew every bump, every pothole and every curve.

"In the name of the wee man, what the hell is that?" The truck screeched to a halt, more than likely leaving a trail of skid marks on the road, and John looked over his shoulder as he reversed back along. "Someone's been hurt, left lying on the road."

A memory clicked at the back of my mind, but before I could stop him, John was out of the truck with his flashlight. I clambered out, checking on this 'injured' person with my mind and, sure enough, it was a void.

"John! Don't, just leave them there, it's a trap!"

Just as John turned to towards us, the vampire was on his feet and had John Mackie in his grasp in seconds. The way he was holding John made the flashlight shine right on his face. Recognition flashed in Claude's eyes, much the same as I guessed it did in mine's.

"Bill Compton – you let him go right this minute!"

Vampires generally didn't show surprise, but at that moment, you could tell Bill was shocked that I knew him. Adele might not be my Gran in this universe, but she'd already lost her Daddy to vampires. I'd be damned before I let them take her husband.

_A/N: I'm giving everyone an early heads up about a new writing challenge Random*Fandom are hosting – The Halloween Monster Mash. You can find more details on the profile page; just do an author search for 'RF-Monster-Mash'. There's a promo story already posted to give everyone an idea and our challenge blog has all the information you might need – contestsandchallenges dot random-fandom dot net_


	9. A Risky Arrangement

**Jumping the Void**

Chapter 9 – A Risky Arrangement

Bill tightened his grip on John, making John even more scared than he had been before. His thoughts barrelled into me like a freight train. He was thinking about how he could tell us about the silver chain in the bed of the truck without pushing the Vampire to rip his throat out.

"I'll do whatever you want – just don't turn me!" John pleaded.

Bill took his eyes off me and Claude long enough for me to gesture to the truck bed and mouth 'silver chain' to him. My cousin nodded and jumped on the back of truck before teleporting directly behind Bill and looping the chain around his neck. Bill let go of John and dropped to his knees as the metal sizzled against his bare skin. Claude ran around him, pinning his arms to his body with the chain as John scrambled back toward me. When he was incapacitated, Claude stood back with his arms folded and his eyebrow raised – daring Bill to make a move.

I gripped John's arms as soon as he got close enough. "How far to the portal?"

"How did you know about ..."

"Never mind that right now." I missed out all the parts about me being a telepath and Claude being Fae when I told our story. We were simply sucked through a portal. "How far is it to the portal?"

"Maybe another ten miles or so to where I was gonna drop you off."

I nodded, that was close enough. "Go back home, John, go back to Adele. You love her and your kids and your grandkids and your great-grandkids too much to risk it all for two odd strangers."

"Tell me how you knew about the chain?"

"I read your thoughts, John, now you need to go." I went to the cab and grabbed our bags. John was still standing in the same place as before, so I gave him a little push toward the truck. "Drive fast and don't look back."

John kept his eyes on me as he walked backward to the cab of the truck; he was completely taken aback by my admission. And a little scared of it. He climbed in and started the engine, gunning it as he turned it around and headed back the way we came. I blew out a breath and started to walk over to where Claude was keeping a watchful eye on Bill.

"You got me, yes you did." Bill coughed and smiled ruefully. "I don't know why you fairies came back to this hellhole, but could you just stake me? You smell worse than a week old corpse."

He looked up at me when I got close enough and a saw his nose twitch before his eyes widened a little. Frowning, I told Claude to go and break off a branch from some dead trees at the side of the road. I wouldn't have the guts to stake Bill, but Claude would. And I knew we couldn't chance Bill getting free from those chains and coming after us.

"You're the one we've been looking for." Bill looked at me like I was a puzzle waiting to be solved.

"Who?" Even as I said it, I knew exactly who he meant - Eric and his blood that ran in my veins. But then, I'd had Bill's blood too. It wasn't too long ago he used it so I would find him in the destruction at Rhodes.

There was a scuffle in the trees and I turned toward it to find Eric snarling at the ground at the tree line. Claude appeared behind me. "Cousin, your blood tie with this Vampire is becoming a serious issue!"

"In _this_ universe, yes, it's a problem. But don't forget that it's saved us too."

Claude huffed and crossed his arms, standing directly behind me. I wasn't sure if it was because he thought me having the tie to Eric would save him or that he hoped they would attack me first so he could escape.

"Eric, I know you must be confused right now and really, _really_ pissed off but we're from an alternate universe where things are very different to this world."

Eric stopped his slow advance on me and started laughing, Bill joined in – which annoyed me. Still chuckling, he went over and pulled the sleeve of his shirt over his hand before helping remove the chain from Bill.

"I sent you to play dead so you could catch us some dinner, Bill, and you end up netting a fairy and a strange woman, who I have a blood bond with no less, that don't even belong in this universe. I'll need to pick you for this job more often."

"I ... I'll give you a vial of blood if you let us go."

I turned to Claude with my mouth open; Fairy blood was intoxicating to Vampires – but highly unpredictable. Any humans in the vicinity after a Vampire tasted pure-fairy blood were very unlikely to survive, especially with younger vampires who lack control. Eric nodded and seemed to mull that over.

"A vial of pure-bred fairy blood would be nice. But not as nice as finding out how you managed to get to this universe from whatever one you came from."

Claude and I looked at each other; he shrugged and told Eric how he had used some magic on the portal to mutate it – enabling our jumping from universe to universe. Eric never took his eyes off me the whole time Claude was talking. I held myself a little straighter, raised my head a little higher but when I 'heard' another void coming in fast, my head snapped towards it and Pam suddenly appeared next to Eric and Bill.

"That's very interesting." Eric mused, almost to himself. "However you got here, however you managed to get my blood in you, isn't important - right at this second, anyway. What _is_ important is that you're going to get to another portal ... and you're going to take us through with you."

Right there, that's when I found out why we hadn't been attacked yet. Me having that little bit of Bill blood and a whole lot of Eric blood was one thing but as soon as I opened my trap and mentioned being from another universe, Eric's brain had been ticking. They wanted out, they wanted to escape and I didn't blame them one bit. I know I didn't want to spend another day in the dark – but that's not why they wanted out. I could see Claude was as apprehensive about this plan as I was.

"The jumping is unpredictable, I've got no way of telling where we'll end up, what time of day it will be or what kind of world we'll jump in to. We could come out the other side of the portal at noon or we could end up in a world where everything is silver plated."

Eric nodded and came over to stand just a couple of feet away, his nose wrinkling in distaste at the stench coming from us. "I'd rather perish while escaping than live, feeding from undernourished humans who never see the light of day. They don't know it yet, but they're dying. Humans need fresh air, fresh fruit and vegetables and sunlight to stay healthy. Feeding from healthy humans makes healthy vampires. Here, vampires are weak and underfed and we have an entire country looking for us. As Salazar said – It's better to die on your feet than live on your knees."

It was three vamps against one fairy (and a human with extras), but I could tell that Claude was weighing up his options. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight, just in case he was considering popping off to find the portal by himself and leaving me here. Despite everything we'd been through and the fact that he _knew_ I wouldn't feed him to the wolves, I wasn't quite as confident. Now that Claude had his elixir and knew where the Cluviel Dor was, I needed him a lot more than he needed me.

I looked at Bill, Pam and Eric in turn. "I know your word doesn't mean much, vampires are full of false promises, but you need to promise that after we come out of the portal – when it's safe for everyone, we go our separate ways. No playing 'chase the fairy'."

Eric smirked at me and cocked his head to one side. "Can I play 'chase the strange woman who senses when vampires are approaching'?"

"No." I huffed. "You can't. And my name is Sookie, this is my cousin Claude."

All three vampires looked at each other and said, in unison. "Sookie?"

I rolled my eyes and inhaled deeply through my nose. It didn't have the calming effect I'd hoped, I started coughing as my own stench filled my nostrils. Claude looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

"I feel much the same way, Cousin. It's unfortunate that bathing is now even less likely with our new travelling companions."

Nodding, I sighed and took the map out of my bag. It took a moment of squinting in the dark before Eric came over and plucked it from my hands.

"Where is the portal?" He stood next to Claude holding the map between them.

Claude pointed to the map and looked out into the woods before holding an arm out in front of him. "It should be this way, maybe about 20 miles."

~v~

There had been some deliberation of how best to travel. Claude had made the suggestion that he teleport further ahead and the vampires could follow his garlicky, onion tainted fairy scent. Eric had been all too willing to carry me on his back. Running through the desiccated forest with my arms around Eric's neck brought back memories of another time when he barely knew who I was. He had trusted me back then and he trusted me right now. I guess it helped that he would be able to feel if I was deceiving him through our bond.

My eyes stung from the dust drifting into them as Eric hung back behind Bill and Pam. My stomach churned as the landscape passed by at a speed I wasn't comfortable with. I squeezed my eyes closed and buried my head into the nook between Eric's neck and shoulder. Breathing deeply, I noticed this Eric smelled different. He still had that same dry smell that all vampires have, but it was stale – harder to deny that he was a dead thing brought to life. I wondered if this is what my Eric would smell like if he didn't wear cologne and then remembered that I'd smelled him without cologne plenty of times.

It confirmed, for me, his suggestion that this planet was dying.

"It's close, I can feel it." Claude shouted from up ahead.

I felt my fingers digging into Eric's shoulders as I prayed that our next jump would be the jump home. When we stopped, Claude was already concentrating his powers on the gateway to our fate. I stood next to him, waiting for the inevitable pull from the portal, and the Vampires followed my lead. This was as dangerous as it got, not only were Claude and I jumping into the unknown once again, we were taking three lethal weapons with us who could turn on us at any moment. Closing my eyes, I let myself get pulled into the vortex and kept them closed until I felt myself roll onto hard ground.

I blinked as a light shone into my eyes, its harshness exacerbated by the pitch black of our previous location. Once my vision had adapted, I noticed we were at a very brightly lit gas station. I stood up and turned around, Claude was sipping his elixir and the Vampires seemed to be struggling to get their bearings. I understood, and almost laughed at how I was about to comfort them about how it gets easier the more you do it. Shaking my head, I surveyed our surroundings, spinning at the sound of breaking glass.

My eyes settled on a man dressed in rags with a full, unkempt beard and then to the bottle of hooch he'd just dropped at the sight of us. It was then that I realised that the portal we'd just fell out of was _in the middle of a brightly lit gas station._ My mind whirled, wondering if there were security cameras or other witnesses to our arrival. A quick glace around confirmed my fears as looked at the attendant staring out of the window and at the trucker who had been just about to go in and buy snacks and at the woman who was standing with the pump in her hand, dispensing gas all over the concrete at her feet. I sucked a breath in through my teeth and wondered what the hell we should do now.

Before I could open my mouth, Claude pushed me toward the (now standing) Vampires and told us to run. I was confused until I saw him close his eyes and flick a small spark into creation from his fingertips, throwing it toward the puddle of gasoline. Screaming, I started to run, only to be picked up in Eric's arms and moved through the scrublands surrounding the gas station at Vampire speed. As the gas station exploded, Claude appeared next to me with a cold look in his eyes.

"Witnesses are a bad, bad thing, cousin. It had to be done."

I went limp in Eric's arms, knowing that that result of not taking action against those who had seen us would have possibly meant us running from the authorities – again. "The Vampires could have glamoured them, Claude."

"You can't glamour a CCTV camera, Sookie."

"We could have removed the tapes."

I grit my teeth. Eric, my Eric, had told me that Fairies were just as ruthless as Vampires once. I had been operating under the impression that they weren't quite so impulsive. I was wrong. I sighed and stood up, nodding to Eric, Bill and Pam in the orange glow of the burning structure.

"Well, this is where we part ways. Best of luck and all that."

Eric smirked at me and nodded back. "And to you, Sookie who is interesting enough to develop a blood bond, I hope you find a way home."

I nodded and watched them all run off into the distance. At least they were going to keep their word ... for now. As long as Claude and I stayed here, they'd always be able to find us. I sighed and turned to my cousin, he put his arm around me and teleported us to the roadside. We went along the road in this manner for what must have been miles, until we came to a large sign.

"Welcome to Sunnydale."

_A/N: Yeah, I went there. What's a little crossover chapter between friends eh?_


End file.
